Who Needs Luck? (Play On Luck 2)
by TheChuckles
Summary: All paths have led to here. Some have ventured to Terminus seeking the sanctuary promised. Others have come for vengeance, but NOBODY is expecting the grisly reality that they find there. However, the horrors at Terminus are just the beginning. Alex, Maggie, Sasha and the rest now face several threats, living and dead. Sequel to Dumb Luck: How I survive the Apocalypse. #TWDFam
1. Chapter 1: Bad Luck

_If you haven't read Dumb Luck: How I Survive The Apocalypse, I HIGHLY recommend you do, otherwise you'll have no idea what's going on now. :) ~The Chuckles_

_ALEX'S POV _

We've been scouting out Terminus for hours now, careful to stay hidden behind trees or in bushes. We saw them drag a large group out of sight, but before they did I spotted Sasha, Bob and Jude, among others. Rick, Carl, Michonne and Daryl must've recognized Sasha and Bob too, and the asian guy must've be Glenn.

"They could have Maggie there. Probably Beth too." Daryl tells Rick, while loading his crossbow. He only has 4 or 5 arrows it seems, but Rick gave him his automatic rifle as back up. Leaving me the only one without a gun.

"When are we going in?" I ask Rick, hands in the pockets of my shorts, trying to emphasize how weaponless I am.

"After sunset, when it's dark. They have men on the rooftops. Going in while it's light out would be suicide. When it's dark, however, we stand a chance. It looks like it's gonna rain tonight too, which will make it harder for them to see." He explains, matter-of-factly, eyeing the Terminus compound at the same time.

"I don't have a gun." I admit, getting to the point. Before Rick can talk, Michonne speaks up. "Here, take mine. I'm better with my sword anyways." She holds out her pistol in offering, and I take it gently. If I would've had a holster, I would've put the gun in there. I need to get one of those belts Rick has. _Where does one even get a belt like that in the apocalypse? Home Depot? Wal-Mart?_

Looking at my outfit, I realize i'm quite unprepared for this. I don't have my jacket I got from the clothing store last week, leaving me only in a faded Superman shirt and cargo shorts. Oh, and I'm wearing Sasha's boots. I have Maggie's knife wrapped up and in my pocket, in place of putting it in a sheath. On the other hand, the rest of my group all have jackets with several pockets, belts with sheaths for knifes and holsters for guns, and pants on instead of cargo shorts. I feel extremely out of place.

I check Michonne's gun, and i'm surprised to see it's actually fully loaded. There's probably 10 bullets in the clip. I would've asked for more ammo, but Rick has already buried the blue duffle bag with all of our extra weapons, in case we get captured. In the bag rests Rick's iconic Cold Python, two more automatic rifles, a red handled machete, and miscellaneous gun parts and ammo.

Daryl goes hunting, and comes back an hour or so later with 3 or 4 squirrels. I don't know how he does it. A couple days before the prison fell, he shot a _deer _and brought it back for us. We had venison for days. Squirrel isn't as good as BBQ'ed venison, but it's better than nothing, I suppose.

Terminus has been quite for hours now, ever since we saw them drag Sasha and the others away to who knows where. Occasionally the gunmen on the roof will look over this way, and we all hide behind the trees. Otherwise, it's been pretty clear. The closest gunmen points his scope over our way, and to my surprise, he starts shouting to the others.

"What's he doing? Has he seen us?" I ask Rick frantically.

"I don't know. We're moving out-_oh my god_." I'm about to ask what he's "OH MY GOD-ING" about, but then I hear it.

The growls.

You have got to be kidding me.

Turning around, I see so many walkers I can't even count them. Unlike hordes I've seen before, where they're all clumped together, this one is spread out over a distance, practically surrounding us. They're at least a good 50-100 feet away though, slowly making their way up the small incline towards us.

"They're everywhere." Michonne comments bleakly, slowly wrapping her fingers around the handle of her sword strapped to her back, ready to pull it out at a moment's notice. Daryl loads his crossbow, although he has limited ammo. He'd be down to his hunting knife before the walkers even got close.

"What are we gonna do? We can't take them all on!" Carl cries.

"Head over the fence." is Rick's reply.

"What?!" Michonne looks shocked.

"We can't waste the ammunition. It's better we push into Terminus on our own terms instead of them finding us out here. C'MON!" He says in his gruff Southern accent, climbing over the tall fence. We all follow suit, and within seconds we're on the other side of the fence, safe from walkers, but walking into another trap all the same.

"There's too many of 'em. They'll take that fence down in no time." Daryl comments.

"I know. Let's hope they do. More chaos around here the better. We won't be the only thing their aiming for. Let's go." Weapons drawn, we slowly descend into Terminus. The men on the roof are yelling back and forth at each other, and Daryl takes the opportunity to snipe one of them in the head. The other 2 looks stunned. Rick follows his example by firing 3 shots at them, but they manage to duck down, and sound an alarm.

Well, _FUCK_.

We've reached the compound now, and it seems to be a maze of warehouses and open cement paths. Blindly, we push in, Rick leading the way. We're heading around the corner we saw them drag our friends now, and are confronted by a couple Termites with big guns. I fire two quick shots before taking cover behind a crate. Carl's with me a heartbeat later, while Rick, Michonne and Daryl about 15 feet to our right, hiding behind a pile of wooden boxes.

I can feel the bullets embedding themselves in the crate, and I know that very soon one of those bullets will pierce all the way through. "We have to get over there!" I yell to Carl, over all the noise for the guns. Instead of responding, he aims his gun over the crate, firing off several shots. I'm smart enough to realize that he's covering me, so I take the opportunity to sprint across the hard pavement, closing the gap between me and the rest of my group.

All of the sudden, my ankle is on fire.

Not _literally_. Since I can't stop my momentum, I take another step on my bad ankle, and a huge surge of pain shoots up my body. I can't handle it, and I crash into the ground hard, a couple feet away from Rick and the others. Quickly looking down, I see that my left ankle is covered in blood. The pain is blinding, and even though i'm a sitting duck out in the open, I can't move.

It's Michonne who grabs me by my hands, and drags me to safety. Somewhere along the way, Carl rushes over to speed up the process I think, but I'm not sure. I hear a booming voice over what sounds like a microphone. "SURRENDER NOW AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED!" In response, somebody fires off shots towards the speaker, or in that general direction. I can't really tell, because the pain overwhelms me, and I see black.

I wake up in a dark, horribly lit room.

The floor is cold, hard metal, leeching the heat from my body. I try to sit up, and manage to, but I have a crippling headache. Suddenly, somebody's hands are under my arms, dragging me backwards. I meekly try to defend myself, but i'm too weak.

"Calm down. You're alright, son." In my groggy state, I crank my head back until I see a muscular man in a light grey tanktop hovering above me, his bright red hair and mustache apparent even in near darkness. "Where am I?" I ask, my speech slurred. "Train car." He replies curtly before resting me against the wall, also cold metal, before walking off. It takes my eyes a minute to adjust, but when they do, I see that we're all reunited. Well, most of us.

An asian man I recognize to be Glenn is leaning against the wall to my far left, staring at the ground depressingly, next to Jude, who's holding on to Connor and Ashley. _THANK GOD_. In the corner next to them is a woman I don't recognize, but she's with Sasha and Bob, so she must be a friend. The red headed man that helped me is standing next to a guy with a mullet, and a woman in short cut off jean shorts and a white tanktop. Also new, but they seem friendly.

On the other side of the train car, I see Daryl and Rick conferencing. Carl is actually standing to my right, looking down at me with concern. Michonne is in the corner to my left, swordless, doing a good job at looking pissed off. No Maggie, Beth, Elijah, Kat, or Isaac. Hopefully they're all far away from this hell hole. I hope they are seduced by Terminus's signs promising "sanctuary".

My ankle is wrapped in gauze, I notice, but it still hurts something fierce. Carl slumps down next to me. "How's your ankle?" He sounds tired and depressed, fitting in with the vibe i'm getting from everybody else.

"It hurts horribly, but I'll live. What happened? Where are we?" I'm expecting a bad answer, but what he tells me devastates me.

"Well, after you got shot, we found our way into one of the warehouses. We held there for a little while, until we got surrounded. Dad found an unguarded door, and we escaped through there. But, we ended up at the back of the place, and there were a bunch of guys aiming at our heads. We surrendered our weapons, and they had us line up one by one before entering this car. A few of them came in a little while ago and bandaged your ankle."

I'm speechless, and even if I was going to say anything, I'm cut off by Rick.

"Don't worry, we won't be in here for long."

My siblings slowly make their way over to me, tears in their eyes. I hold onto Ashley's hand, and they both sit down next to me. Ash lays her head across my lap, and lies down, sobbing. Rick continues.

"They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out." He starts pacing the length of the train car, peeking out the small gap between the wall and the door. "Find out what?" The red head asks Rick skeptically. Rick turns his head to look at him, and I notice how the lack of light covers half of his face. His left eye in particular.

He almost looks like The Governor when he says "They're fucking with the _WRONG_ people."


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Terminus

_Elijah's POV _

To be honest, Terminus looks like an obvious trap.

I mean, c'mon. "Sanctuary for All, Community for all. Those who arrive, survive." Please. Who lets complete strangers come into their community, without the intention to capture them and make them slaves or kill them or one of those fun things? Even if I wasn't held captive like I was for so long, I still would have steered clear of the place. The fact that the gate is hanging WIDE OPEN and there's nobody in sight, dead or living, makes it look abandoned. Well, expect for the sniper guys on the roof. Kind of a big give away.

"Look at them. They think they have it so figured out. Ignorant bastards." Caroline says in disgust, a twisted frown on her face. Up until yesterday, I didn't know the names of anybody I was stuck with. That's changed, obviously. Out of the 22 we had yesterday, only 8 have stayed, or are still alive. Probably half of my fellow former prisoners got shot up or eaten yesterday. Out of all of them, I've become "friends" with Caroline. More like acquaintances, really.

She used to be a Social Studies teacher from a school on the outskirts of Atlanta. The day before Atlanta was bombed, she was teaching when, somehow, a few of the people at the school had turned. A few turned into a lot pretty quickly. Once people figured out what was going on, the ones who could drive left. But everybody else called their parents to pick them up. Long story short: the school was overrun pretty fast.

She got out, though, and was with a group for a loooooong time, until a couple weeks ago when they themselves got overrun. The next day, she was caught by the Terminus scumbags, and now she's here. Caroline is Japanese, although she was born in the US. She has long, sleek black hair that's put up in a messy bun. Her black skinny jeans have holes at the knees, leaving her knees exposed. She was wearing a plain white tank top, but after that group of saints basically saved us, she picked up a maroon long sleeve shirt off of one of the Termies, along with a nice black jacket.

"Tell me about it. They're gonna crash and burn, don't worry. It's their time to suffer now." I say to Caroline, smiling broadly. She holds up her newly acquired SMG, picked off of a dead Termie. "The day of reckoning has come." She smiles back.

"Amen, sister. Testify." I say, and I can't help but giggle just a little bit. Killing these sick, twisted people is gonna be MORE than fun. Caroline pats my shoulder before walking off towards the rest of our little "army", gathered a little farther back in the woods, to stay out of sight of the snipers.

"You ready for this, Eli?" Beth asks from a few feet behind me.

"You don't even know how ready I am for this." Once she makes it to the fence, she leans next to it, rocking back and forth,facing me. She's holding on to the AK-47 Daryl gave her like one would hold a purse. Her long blond hair cascades down her front, making it to her elbows. The ratty old yellow shirt and worn out jeans she had worn for days as a prisoner is gone, replaced by a nice fitting red tanktop and yoga pants like Maggie's.

"Maggie says we have to wait until tonight before we attack. We'd be too obvious in broad daylight. To be honest, I don't think I can wait that long, though. Never been in a gunfight though." She informs me.

"Wait, you've _never _been in a shootout? Where the hell have you been the last two years? On paradise island or something?" She has to be kidding. How could she have never ran into any bad people?

She blushes just the slightest, looking up at me smiling. She's just too gorgeous sometimes, I swear. Maybe she does it on purpose. "Well, Maggie and I were on my Daddy's farm for a while. But it got overrun, and we eventually found the prison. Even when the Governor attacked us, I was shooting at them, but all the bullets were aimed at Rick at that point. By the time the tank destroyed the fences, I was too far away from all of it to be shot."

"Well, you've been awfully lucky then-_DUCK_!" I see one of the sniper dudes look our way, and I dive behind a tree. Beth lays down flat on the ground, watching the sniper until he walks away to another part of the roof. I chuckle.

"Close call."

"Tell me about it. Wanna go for a little walk, so we can talk in peace?" Beth asks, dusting herself off. _OHMYGODYES_. "S-sure." I say, and it's my turn to blush just a little bit. We walk away from the fence, heading around the chariot where the rest of the group is gathered on a road that runs parallel to the fence. Once we're a reasonable distance away, we emerge back onto the road. Out of the blue, Beth starts singing.

It's so unexpected that it scares me at first. But once I figure out it's just Beth, I relax, and enjoy the singing. I recognize that it's a Lana Del Ray song. "Summertime Sadness." I didn't know Beth could sing, and man, her singing is amazing. Well, I haven't heard anybody sing in quite some time, but Beth was born with a singers' voice. I close my eyes for a second, and imagine that we're not preparing to attack Terminus. That the world didn't end, and Beth and I were just two high schoolers hanging out on a weekend. Maybe it could be a date...

I hear the loud shriek of tires on pavement, and freeze.

A sleek black car is trying to stop before it hits us, the driver slamming on the brakes hard. But it doesn't work, and they collide head on with Beth and I. My side explodes in pain, and i'm sent flying down the road. I hit the hard pavement, and I feel it grinding against all my exposed skin painfully. My head smacks against the road hard, and I see stars.

"Beth?" I croak out, but I don't hear a response. Suddenly, somebody is lifting me up, their hands wrapping around my waist. Thank god, Maggie and the others are here. What the hell was the driver thinking, driving that fast? Dumb ass, they could have killed us.

The edges of my vision are going black, but I'm still conscious enough to feel myself being gently tossed into the back of the black car. _Oh no no no no no no no._ I'm being abducted, _again._ The driver sits me up, and buckles in my seat belt. I weakly slap him, or her, I don't know, in the face, but they just laugh. Yeah, it's a he. Is that a police uniform he's wearing?

"BETH?!" I hear a desperate scream from a voice that can only belong to Maggie. Speaking of, Beth is roughly thrown in next to me, completely unconscious. Bullets ricochet off the car, and the driver quickly drives off, leaving the his door wide open. Looking out the back window, I see Maggie running after us feutily.

Before I completely black out, I decide that this guy who has the audacity to abduct me will die _slowly_ and _painfully_.

_ISAAC'S POV_

Getting into Terminus was pretty easy.

Since we didn't have big enough guns to take them down ourselves, or even enough people, Kat came up with the brilliant idea to attack them from the inside. We simply walked up the tracks inside the compound, and ended up talking to this older woman named Mary. She was manning a big grill, made us each a plate, and took us inside. The food was amazing, and we were each given a room near the back of the warehouse. Each room was once used for storage I guess, but now they serve as living quarters.

I don't know what's going on here exactly, but I haven't seen that many people. Sure, a couple people have walked by, stopping by and saying hello. It almost seems like Terminus really is a sanctuary, but we know better. Whatever is going on here, we're going to figure it out. Once we know how this place works, we attack.

"This place is actually better than I expected." Kat tells me, unpacking her gear into one of the two dressers in our room. "But they insisted we show them all of our weapons, and that kind of killed the whole effect their trying to pull off. '_Sanctuary_' and everything."

"I guess. But, if you were in their position, would you let strangers in without knowing how many weapons they had with them?"

Kat shrugs. "No, I guess not. But this place is still sketchy. I've only seen like 5 or 6 other people here." She's noticed it, too. I briefly talked about that with Carol and Tyreese a little while ago, but they left to go explore the compound.

The loud siren that blares cuts off my response. We just stand there covering our ears for a few seconds until, thankfully, the siren stops. Before either of us can talk, one of the Termites bursts into the room. "We're under attack! Follow me!" Kat and I follow him warily as he runs through the warehouse, past huge crates and storage units and makeshift rooms and work stations, before finally ending up in another courtyard. I can hear shots near by. We both have our guns drawn. Who's attacking us? People? Walkers? Have Carol and Tyreese found something?

I see four people dive behind cover probably 40 feet in front of us, on the far side of the courtyard. Other buildings to the left and right act as walls almost, leaving the way the intruders came as the only way out. The Termite guy leads us behind a huge grill similar to the one Mary has out in front. A big square slab of metal about 4 feet fall, so we have to duck down behind it. Soon the smell of gun smoke fills the air. I feel several shots hit the other side of the grill, leaving dents protruding towards us. I freeze. I hate _HATE_ confrontations with other people.

Kat fires off a few shots with her shotgun at the pile of crates where some of the intruders are. By this point i've set my automatic rifle down at my side, staring back towards the warehouse we came from. Carol and Tyreese emerge from it, and I see Carol tense up instantly. Tyreese runs back inside holding Judith fiercely, under the protection of a Termite with a machine gun, while Carol makes her way to us, not caring to fire at the enemy.

"Stop firing!" She yells at Kat once she's behind the grill with us. Kat twists her head towards her for a split second, shotgun still aimed at the pile of crates, and then her face explodes in blood. She goes down hard, and i'm right next to her instantly. _OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD._ Luckily, the bullet only grazed the side of her temple, leaving one wicked groove along the right side of her face. The pain has rendered her unconscious, but she's bleeding quite badly. I rip off the sleve of my flannel jacket, wad it up, and hold it over the worst of the bleeding.

"What are you trying to do, lady? They are attacking US-" Carol quickly shoots him in the face while nobody is looking. She rolls his dead body out into the open. "Those are friends of mine. I saw Carl for sure, and I think I saw Daryl." Even though I have never met either Carl or Daryl, both Carol and Alex have told me a lot about them.

"Are you sure it's them?"

"Look over behind those crates. You'll see the top of a sheriff's hat that belongs to Rick's son, Carl. And if Carl is here, Rick sure as hell is too." Risking getting shot in the face, I quickly peek up over the edge of the grill and see the hat she's talking about. "We need to help them then. If we attack now, the Termites will be surrounded and we could win!" Just as I say this, I see somebody run out from behind the crates Carl is behind. It's Alex, and he's heading towards another pile of crates. How in the hell did he get here? Wasn't he with Maggie? Unless Maggie is here too...

Suddenly, Alex goes down hard, blood spraying from his ankle. Oh God. A black lady rushes out of hiding to pull him to safety, and the boy with the sheriff's hat that must be Carl comes after him as well. He fires wildly in our direction, and I duck. Several other Termites have taken to the rooftops at this point. Besides Carol, Kat and I, there's only 4 others on the ground, hiding behind the huge garage door that leads into the warehouse behind us.

"SURRENDER NOW AND YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED!" A voice I recognize to be Gareth's booms over a loudspeaker. I see him perched on roof a second later with a megaphone in his hand, a pistol in the other. In response, one of our friends fire several shots towards him. Instead of showing anger or fear, Gareth just shakes his head blankly.

A squad of Termites comes around from the other end of the courtyard, and swiftly capture Carl and Daryl, along with the black woman and a gruff looking man that must be Rick. He struggles greatly, kicking and biting and headbutting as the Termites put him in handcuffs. A few of them grab Alex, and take him into the building making up the left border of the courtyard.

"Oh no..." Carol looks worried. "I'll follow them, find out where they're being taken. I'll find you tonight, and we'll make a plan then. Remember, to them, we're friends. Use it to your advantage." And with that, she swiftly walks into the open courtyard, following the group taking Rick and company away at a distance.

"HELP! SHE'S BEEN SHOT!" I yell, holding Kat's limp body up, and within moments Termites are streaming out from behind the garage door. Once they see how bloody Kat's face is, they manage to lift her up and carry her back into the warehouse. They don't notice the dead guy Carol killed lying mere feet from where i'm sitting. They don't know that Carol killed him, or that the people they just detained are our friends.

_Remember, to them, we're friends. Use it to your advantage._

Oh, that's definitely what I plan on doing.

If Alex was with Rick and his group, that means that they must've rescued the prisoners from the Terminus slave caravan. Which means that Maggie and the rest of them are somewhere in the area, probably as Rick's backup. I need to find them _ASAP_. By ourselves, Carol, Tyreese and I can't take these people down. After seeing how strong they really are, I know it would take a large amount of people to lay siege to this place.

I walk back inside the warehouse to see a medic cleaning Kat's wound and wrapping gauze around her head on the floor. Standing around them is the group of Termites that brought her over there. I kind of recognize the guy with the oily black hair, Alan maybe? I can't remember his name.

"Hey, man, I think there might be more of those people hiding somewhere in the forest. I-I've seen them before, on my way here. We watched them for a little bit, almost joined them actually. But we saw them do horrible things. I think we should sent some people out to look for them." I try not to stutter too much. Everything I just said is a complete lie, but I hope he doesn't realize that.

"Really? Well, damn. I guess when you advertise sanctuary, some people just wanna take it for themselves. I'll tell ya what, you and that other friend of yours can go and scout around the perimeter a little bit." He digs in his pocket, and produces a walkie-talkie. "Find anything worth finding, and message us over this." I take the walkie from his hand, and secure it onto my belt, right next to my machete.

"Thanks, bro."

"No, thank YOU..._Isaac_ is it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, thank you for looking our for us, _Isaac_." And with that, i'm home free.

I find Tyreese in his and Carol's room, which is actually right next to Kat and I's. I fill him in on what happened, and we take off. He brings Judith, strapped into a baby carrier to his back. We walk out into the front, saying hello to Mary briefly, before rounding the corner and sprinting out of the gate. I freeze when I see several people making their way down the tracks. People heading for Terminus. We have to warn them.

Their leader appears to be a woman wearing a deep blue jacket with the hood pulled up, with sunglasses on, covering her face. She has on a familiar pair of boots, and a familiar pair of yoga pants. I see a few wisps of long brown hair, and I know who it is. Although I don't recognize the people she's with, I've known Maggie long enough to tell that it's her.


	3. Chapter 3: Internal Bleeding

_ISAAC'S POV _

"What the _hell _are you doing here?"

"...Isaac? I could ask the same question."

Maggie takes off her sunglasses, revealing her stormy greyish green eyes. She looks more pissed of than i've ever seen her. The ragtag group behind her all have big guns, but Maggie has the biggest of them all. Cradled in her arms awkwardly is a freaking rocket launcher. I don't know what surprises me more: The fact that Maggie found a rocket launcher or the fact that she's cradling it like a baby.

"Where did you get that? I nod to the rocket launcher.

"Those slave people had some pretty heavy stuff-_TYREESE_?!" Maggie's gaze locks onto Tyreese behind me, and he recovers from the shock of seeing Maggie for the first time in almost 3 weeks. She rushes up to hug him, setting her rocket launcher down first. All of her anger disappears instantaneously. Judith's cry startles her, and she cranes her head over Tyreese's shoulder to see Judith. Maggie smiles her teethy smile, and makes a noise sounding something between a laugh and a cry.

"You can hold her." Tyreese says coolly. Maggie scoops Judy out of her carrier and cradles her fiercely, touching her forehead to little Judith's. The rest of her group just stand there awkwardly, playing with their guns or staring at the ground. After Maggie has had enough of Judith, she puts her in Tyreese's arms before coming over to embrace me. The last time I saw Maggie was the day she left with Sasha and Alex to find Glenn. That was almost a week ago now, although it's felt like a century. So much has happened it's been hard to keep up with it all.

"We need to catch up." I say as Maggie picks up her rocket launcher, resting it on her shoulder. "You don't say? C'mon, lets go talk somewhere more...secluded." She stares at Terminus. "I don't want to be here longer than absolutely needed." She leads the way as we trek up the railroad tracks a little bit, before veering off into the woods. After a couple of minutes, we emerge at a clearing straddling the fence surrounding Terminus. In the middle of the clearing is one of the two chariots the Termites used to lead slaves with.

"They took Beth and Alex's friend. A black car with a white cross on the back window. I tried to follow them, but they got away. We have to go and get them!" Maggie starts to rant once we reach their camp.

"Woah. Slow down there. They took them? Are you sure it was the Termites? When did this happen?"

"An hour ago. i-" Maggie takes a shaky breath. "I heard a car hit something, and by the time I got there the bastard had shoved them in the backseat and took off. He was heading towards Terminus."

"Maggie, i've _been _at Terminus. I didn't see them, but they could easily be hiding them somewhere. Kat and I are there with Tyreese and Carol. They have Rick, Daryl, Carl, Alex and a black woman-"

"_Michonne_."

"Michonne. They tried to storm the base for some reason. I saw Alex and thought you might be lurking somewhere around here as their back up."

"No, a group took out the Termites on the road yesterday. Alex got away, and Daryl took off with the other group. I don't know how he ended up with Rick...but where is everyone else? Sasha, Bob, Jude, the kids? Glenn? Did you see any of them?" A glimpse of hope breaks through the tough emotional shell that is Maggie's face. I feel horrible when I have to shatter it.

"No sign of any of them. They might be on their way here now. Maybe they didn't see the signs. Maybe their somewhere far away from here by now. I don't know."

Maggie nods her head grimly. I can tell she was expecting bad news. "Damn it. We were going into Terminus just now. Thought we could sneak in and attack from the inside."

"That's what we're doing. Isaac and I are supposed to be scouting the fence, but we really came out here to look for you." Tyreese speaks up.

An Asian woman with her hair tied back in a long ponytail speaks up. "You found us. What do we do now?" She toys with the strap on her tank top the color of blood. "We're going back with Isaac and Tyreese, Caroline. You with us?"

The woman, Caroline, nods her head sternly. The rest of the group all nods their heads or mumbles "yeah". Maggie looks at her assembled force, nodding and smiling in a way that creeps me out. "Well then, lets take these bastards down!"

We march up the tracks triumphantly, ready for war. I alone is in front, pretending to lead in a new group of people. Once we're inside, i'll find Carol and brief her on what's about to go down. She's to escape and make it back to Maggie's camp, where Tyreese is waiting with Judith. The rest of us will lie low until nightfall. Then, all hell will break loose.

"Oh wow." Mary says when she sees us. "Where'd you find them all?" She asks me, already making plates for everybody. "Found them fighting some walkers not far from here. Tyreese and I watched them for a while, their good people. This is just some of them. There's at least 15 more, but Tyreese is talking to them for now. He'll bring them in later on tonight." Once again, I lie to Mary.

She doesn't seem to notice though. Once she's served Maggie, Caroline and all the rest, I lead them into the main warehouse, where I have Alex find them rooms. Turns out the guy that gave me the walkie-talkie earlier was named Alex. How ironic.

I find Carol in my room, tending to Kat. She has lots of gauze wrapped around her forehead. Even so, there's a considerable blood stain on the side of her face where she was grazed by a bullet. "Carol, we need to talk." She looks up at me, expecting the worse. "What's happened?" She peers behind me. "Where's Tyreese and Judith?"

"They're safe. Listen, we found Maggie. She's with a group of 6 or 7 that we can trust. I just brought them in. We're taking this place down TONIGHT. I need you to get out of here and hook up with Tyreese. I'll draw you a map. Once you get to the spot, wait there for the rest of us." She simply nods. Good, Carol is ready to go. Just as i'm leaving the room, however, she points out a hole in my plan.

"What about Kat? She can't be moved."

I turn on my heel, racking my brain, trying to find a way to get Kat out of here without being noticed. Carol notices my frustration. "I-it's okay. I'll figure something out. You go and get ready."

_ALEX'S POV_

Nobody talks. Everybody _works_. Well, everybody except me of course.

Everybody is using whatever they have to saw away at the wooden beams in the train car. Michonne has carved out two long, sharp chunks, and has fastened them to either end of her sword sheath, creating a deadly double sided shiv. Rosita, the one in the cut off jean shorts and white tank top, has made her hoop earrings into a Wolverine type weapon. Rick has carved out a small wooden shiv and tucked it safely into his back pocket. Even Connor and Ashley are working. They're helping Jude carve out some weapons with Jude's metal necklace. Glenn's been using a nice pocket watch to cut away at the wood.

"Here, take this." The woman named Tara says, standing over me with a long, slender piece of wood in her hands as offering. Although i've only known her for a couple hours at most, I can tell she'll be a good friend. "You sure? It took you a long time to make that." Our conversation draws the attention of Carl and a few others, but they quickly go back to work chiseling away.

"I can make more. Here, take it." Tara grabs my hand, and wraps it around the base of the wooden shiv. Looking down at me questioningly, she puts the back of her hand on my forehead, and draws it away quickly. "You're _freezing_, dude." She shrugs off her light plaid jacket, and holds it out.

I sigh. "You need that. I'll be fine, Tara. Really."

She blocks my weak rebutle out. Tara sits down next to me, and physically puts the jacket on me. After buttoning it up all the way, it does make me feel a little warmer. But it's still painfully cold in here. "You didn't have to do that. Thanks though."

"Of course I did. You'd get hypothermia eventually if you don't have something else on besides a thin shirt and cargo shorts. We're all making it out of this. Here, pound it." She holds out her fist, and I weakly bump fists with her. Her smile is infectious, though, and I can't help but feel just a little bit better. Tara stands back up, and starts working on a wooden beam right next to Glenn.

Once again it's deathly quiet. I watch as everybody works intensely on making weapons, helping each other out. Rick and Abraham tackle a particularly thick looking beam together, using the zipper from Rick's jacket as a two man saw. Rosita uses her Wolverine claws to help Carl cut free a chunk of wood, and she files one side down to a deadly sharp point. Michonne helps Eugene wrap a shiv around his wrist, creating a built in dagger sort of weapon. Bob and Sasha take turns using the one actual weapon we have-Maggie's knife. Carl managed to stuff it in my shoe before we were captured.

The unity and teamwork brings a tear to my eye. Or maybe the sharp pain in my ankle does. Either way, it almost feels like we're a family. Yes, we're stuck in a train car at the mercy of the Termians, and yes we could all die in the next couple days. But these people, my _family_, myself included, will put up one hell of a fight. They'll remember the time they tangled with us.

"Hey." It's Carl. He slides down next to me, running his hands through his sweaty hair. It's pretty much the same type as mine, although his is longer and more hectic.

"Hi." There's pretty much nothing else to say. We sit in an almost comfortable silence for what seems like hours. The fading light outside makes it harder and harder to see.

"4 of them pricks are coming our way." Daryl says, peeking outside through the crack between the door and the wall. Everybody stops working, and quickly hides their weapons. Instead of coming through the door, the Termites climb on the roof, the echoes of boots on the ladder fill the air. "Everybody backs against the walls!" One of them yells, yet none of us listen. He won't know anyways. Everybody stands still, looking up at the ceiling intently.

A vent on the top of the roof opens, and something is thrown down it, landing with a metallic _cling _inside our prison. "MOVE!" Abraham yells, diving away. In the fading light I make it out to be a flashbang. I feebly attempt to move away from it, but it goes off, stunning me and everybody else in here. I hear somebody open the train car door.

Everything goes black.

I wake up with a pain in my chest. My eyelids feel like lead, but I finally do manage to open them. I'm leaning on what looks to be a long, metal basin. My hands are tied behind my back with plastic wire it feels like, but my feet are free. Of course, with my injured ankle I can't stand, but I could possibly kick someone with my right leg if need be.

Glancing to my left, I see that there are several other people in the same predicament I am. I see Rick, Daryl, and Glenn all next to me, and then four other people I don't know. To my right is empty space. I'm at the end of the line. What the hell is this place? It almost looks like this metal thing is a...trough? But, if it is, why is there a drain in the bottom of it?

"_Mmmphhh_" Rick tries to say something, but his mouth is gagged. I try to say something, but my mouth is gagged as well. A couple feet in front of me, off to my right, I see a medical table with somebody on it. It looks like a dead body, but their legs are missing. There are huge white jugs with labels on them underneath the table, but I can't make out the words. I start shaking, partly because it's cold but mostly in horror.

The door on my far left swings open, and 3 people enter. Two of them have approns on, one with a baseball bat, the other with a long knife. The third, obviously the leader, is dressed in a navy green jacket and brown cargo pants. His sandy brown hair sits unruly and messy on his head, flat and greasy. He kneels down right in front of Rick. His smile is creepy, and his eyes remind me of a snakes. Cold and methodic.

"Hi. I'm Gareth. I'm sorry this had to happen to you. Really, I am. You guys could have been one of us, you know. Only if you would have come in from the front, instead of pretending to be a SWAT team and take us by surprise. That's just not possible." He turns to look at Glenn. "You're group came in the right way, but you had other plans. Sorry to break it to you, _sport_, but that group that has your wife is probably our supply caravan."

Supply caravan? What the hell is that supposed to mean? They were taking _slaves,_ not gathering supplies...

"But that's besides the point. They should be here by morning, but you guys won't be. Just remember, everything that happens to you is your fault and yours only." With that, Gareth stands back up, and opens his book. Meanwhile, the two men in the aprons go to work. The first one hits the man at the very end of the line in the back of the head with his bat. Then, the second slits his throat while he's unconscious, sending a waterfall of blood into the trough.

_Meanwhile, a massive horde of walkers has assembled around the area Rick and the others jumped the fence earlier in the day. Slowly, all of the savage dead push against the fence. For a time it holds, but as day fades to night, the fence begins to bend..._


	4. Chapter 4: Day of Reckoning

_Chapter 4_

_ALEX'S POV _

My shaking intensifies. If there wasn't cloth stuck between my teeth, they would be chattering. The blood flow slowly makes its way down the trough, until the whole metal bottom is a crimson red pool. The next guy gets knocked out, his throat is slit. Then the third. Followed by the fourth. All equally bloody and disgusting. Right before they start on Glenn, Gareth speaks up.

"Wait, four from A and four from D, right?" What the hell does that mean?

"Yup." The one with the baseball bat says, aiming for Glenn's head. His swing connects hard, and I hear Daryl make a muffled cry. Glenn falls limp, his head hanging low in the trough, a few rogue strands of his hair submerged in blood. I almost throw up. The other guy lifts Glenn's head up, ready to end his life. _Oh god no. Not like this...we can't die like this.. _

"What was your shell count?" Gareth inadvertently comes to the rescue again, as the guy about to slit Glenn's throat stops. He lets go of Glenn's head, and it falls back into the blood. Lovely.

I don't pay attention to the conversation that's going on. But I do notice that Rick has his wooden shiv out, slowly cutting away at the plastic wire binding his hands. _Oh my god, he just might get out._ I need to stall them. What could I say...

"_MMMPPHH_!" That's really the only noise I can make. Thankfully, Gareth's curiosity gets the best of him. He wants to hear what I have to say. He roughly pulls the gag out of my mouth, and I start gushing. "Please man, you don't have to do this." He rolls his eyes, and is about to stuff the gag back into my mouth.

"WAIT!" He relents for a brief second. "We have a man that knows how to end this. Please, we have to get him to Washington. We can fix this whole thin-" Gareth finishes stuffing the gag back in, and I moan loudly in anger. Gareth isn't done though. He takes the gag out of Rick's mouth. "Our scouts saw you bury a bag out in the woods. What was in it?"

Hold up. They _knew _we were there. Are you kidding me? They saw that we were coming...but did they see the mass of walkers that were behind us?

Rick stays silent. Gareth sighs. He pulls out a knife, grabs my shoulder, and aims for my left eye. He goes slow, giving Rick plenty of time to make a decision. My eyes grow wide in fear. I try to move away, but Gareth's grip is too strong. When the tip of the blade is centimeters away from my eye, Rick speaks up, thankfully.

"Wait." His voice is gruff. Gareth stops, but doesn't take the knife away from my face. Rick tilts his head up, thinking. "There was a couple automatic weapons. A .357 Colt Python. A sniper rifle with night scope...and a machete with a red handle. That's what i'm gonna use to kill you." His looks like the definition of defiance, but Gareth simply smiles his snakey smile. The gag is put back in Rick's mouth. I glance back, and see that he's almost through cutting the wire.

"You guys continue with this. Afterwards, clean everything up and meet out front. We go public face again in the morning." Gareth starts to leave the room, the man with the knife gets ready to slit Glenn's throat, but none of that happens. The room starts shaking violently, like there's been an earthquake. The light flicker, and Gareth falls over. The two other guys fall over as well. I lose my balance on my knees, and topple over.

After a couple seconds of confusion, Gareth reaches for his walkie. "What the _HELL_ was that?" The walkie answers with static at first, but then a voice comes on. _"It's your day of reckoning, bitch!"_ He throws it on the ground viciously, shattering it to pieces. "You two stay right here!" He says, storming out of the room with haste.

One of the men starts walking away, but the other stops him. "It's all falling apart." He sounds worried. Hm, didn't know these monsters had human qualities. "We'll be alright. Hey, look at me." The other one says. The first guy turns to look at him, and see's Rick sinks his shiv deep into the other's neck. He screams, but Rick is on him before he can do anything.

Rick frees Daryl and Glenn before coming to me. He scoops me up with ease. Rick throws the dead guy off of the medical table, and lies me down, cutting me free in the process. "Can you walk?" He asks, gruff and to the point.

"I don't think so. What the hell is going on here?" is my answer. Already Daryl is looking for weapons. He grabs the baseball bat off of one of the dead guys. "All I know is that they ain't people." Daryl huffs. He lifts Glenn out of the blood soaked ground he was on, and sits him up against the wall, still completely out of it.

The door bursts open. Rick and Daryl dive for cover, but Maggie doesn't pose any danger to us. In her hands is an empty rocket launcher, explaining the explosion. She must have blown something up. Her deep blue hoodie is stained dark red with blood, and her hair is in utter disarray. The look on her face is primal.

"Are you guys okay? These people are cannibals! We've gotta go-" The moment her eyes land on Glenn, she's rendered speechless. Maggie drops her weapon and runs across the room faster than i've ever seen anybody move, nearly slipping in the blood puddle. She falls to her knees in front of him, cupping his face in her hands. Tears flow freely down her blood covered face.

"He's alive. We've gotta go, now. Walkers will be swarming all over here soon enough." Daryl tells Maggie, not even trying to take her away from Glenn. She's been looking for him for weeks now, and has went through hell to find him. I would know, i've been there for most of it.

"They're already here." Rick says grimly, the growls and moans of the dead becoming crystal clear.

_ISAAC'S POV _

"Maggie? Are you there?" She hasn't answered her walkie-talkie in nearly a minute, and i'm starting to get scared. Carol and I are in the back of the Terminus complex, with an incapacitated Kat. Carol insisted on staying once shit hit the fan, and she's already saved my life once. Behind us is a raised fence, in front of us are two warehouses, the alley in the middle teaming with walkers. A lone train car sits off to our left.

"_Who is this?_" A gruff voice asks over the walkie. _Oh no, Maggie's been captured, I think glumly._ Carol, however, seems to recognize the voice. She grabs the device from my hands. "Rick?" she asks the gruff voice. He remains silent for a few long moments, but Rick eventually answers. "_Carol? Is that you?_" Carol breaks into a smile.

"Yes, it's me, Rick. Oh my god, where are you? Is Maggie safe?"

"_We're alright. Listen, the rest of the group is in a train car near the back of the place. Get there, and break everyone out. We'll meet you there shortly. We have two people unconscious._"

"I'm on it!" I run to the train car, up the wooden stairs. "Is anybody in there? Can you hear me?"

"We can here you!" Several voices reply. I sigh in relief.

"Listen, i'm here to help you. Rick sent me. I'm opening the door now..." I unlock the door, and slide it open. Inside I see several people I don't recognize. But then my eyes adjust. In the depths of the gloomy train car I see Alex's siblings, Jude, Sasha and Bob. Everybody pours out of the makeshift prison, and gathers around Carol. I'm the last to make it, helping Jude down the steps.

Sasha and Bob rush over to help me, and together we meet with the others. I see a muscular red headed man, flanked by an attractive woman in a white tanktop and cut off shorts, and a man with a mullet. I see a black woman in a white dress shirt and green skinny jeans, sporting a duel sided makeshift katana. I see a boy in a sheriff's hat that must be Carl. A lone woman standing near the edge of the group, with no weapon, wearing a faded blue shirt and jeans. Carol stands in the middle of us all.

"Rick, we're all here. Where are you?" Carol frantically asks.

"_We're on our way._" is all he says from the walkie. The walkers pouring out of the alley are coming at us fast now. The red head and his female friend charge at the walkers first, followed by Sasha with a knife. The other black chick and Carl advance as well. Carol opens fire on the walkers, and I do as well. We spread out, making sure not to hit any of our own. We mow down all of the walkers in the immediate area, and circle up again.

Before anybody can speak, we here gunshots ring out, peppering the cement by our feet, sending up plumes of dust. There are gunmen on the roofs. Terminus finally is fighting back. Damn it. I fire off a couple rounds blindly in their direction, sending them into hiding. More walkers start streaming out of the alley. Wait, no, those aren't walkers. Several people are running at us. Some of them have their hands up in truce.

"Carol! Isaac! We've gotta go now!" I hear Maggie yell as they approach. She's running while holding onto Glenn's feet. Caroline has his upper body. Daryl is carrying Alex over his shoulders, with the rest of Maggie's forces firing at the rooftops. Rick smashes right into Carl, hugging him fiercely. Michonne joins them in an embrace, but it's short lived. The gunmen are firing at us again, and more walkers are stumbling down the alley.

With all of us together for the first time, we number at 25, not including Tyreese and Judith. But that number descends quickly. I see two of Maggie's people get shot down, followed by a third. Everybody makes for the fence, except for the few of us that have guns. Carol, Rick, Maggie, myself and Caroline, along with the last of the former prisoners. We unleash a hellstorm of bullets at the rooftop snipers. I see several go down, but they keep firing.

"NO!" I hear one of the kids yell, and I turn to see Jude staring blankly at me. She seems fine, but then crimson red flowers blossom all over her chest. She smiles at me one last time, before collapsing on the cement quietly. Just like that, she's dead. She brought us in and fed us and gave us shelter and now she's just dead. The red headed guy has started lifting people over the fence, but already a few walkers have materialized over there as well. _Is there anywhere safe to run to?_

"Retreat!" Rick yells, and we begin to back up, continuing to fire. I hear Caroline next to me gasp in pain. She's been shot in her stomach, the blood hard to notice on her maroon tank top. Caroline collapses, convulsing violently on the ground. I stop shooting entirely, and scoop her up as gently as I can. By this point we're one of the last ones still here. I hand Caroline to the red headed man in the army fatigues, and he hoists her over the fence. She's safely taken by a couple pairs of hands, I can't tell who they belong to.

The walkers on our side of the fence are almost within reach now. I hack a couple to pieces with my machete. A couple have taken to eating Jude's corpse, and I violently cut their heads off, before finally retreating over the fence with Rick and Carol. Once we're all over, we take off into the dark forest, killing walkers along the way. Carol and I take up the rear, and we're the last ones to see Terminus. Fires rage on all over the compound, lighting up the night sky with flickering oranges and yellows.

For how long we're on the run I can't say. An hour? It couldn't have been more than that, otherwise Caroline would have bled out. We come across a clearing, with a small white church right in the center. Whoever is at the front of the line kicks the door down, and we all rush in, slamming the doors shut. Kat, Caroline, Glenn and Alex are all set down on the cushioned pews.

"Do we have any medical supplies?" Maggie calls out, lifting up Caroline's sticky tank top to reveal a messy looking wound. In the darkness it's hard to see very much, but it looks pretty fatal.

"I'll check the back room!" Someone yells, and a few people rush to the back of the church. I sit down next to Kat, squeezing her hand tightly. She's been our for hours now. I hope she hasn't slipped into a coma. Some people never wake up from them. Jude would've known, she had a medical background...No, I can't think like that. She's DEAD now.

Hell, we all should be dead right now. Some of us are dying. Somebody, I think Carl, rushes back towards us near the locked doors, a large white bag in his hands. He sets it roughly on the ground next to Maggie. She begins to inspect it thoroughly, pulling out large rolls of gauze and bottles of antiseptics. Somebody lights the candles in the candleholders on the walls, casting a haunting orange glow over everything.

"We'll spend the night here. Abraham, Carol, Michonne and I will be on guard. Carl, take the other kids and sleep in one of the backrooms. There's a sofa there. The rest of you, help Maggie take care of the injured." And with that, Rick Grimes walks out of the front doors, along with Carol, the black woman known as Michonne, and the red headed man, Abraham.

It's going to be a long night.


	5. Chapter 5: Rest, Relaxation, and Revenge

_SASHA'S POV_

"Tyreese is _where_?"

"He's safe, Sasha. Don't worry. He's at Maggie's old camp, on the other side of Terminus. Isaac knows the way. We could get there in an hour. Two at the most." Carol tells me. The mere fact that Tyreese is alive is enough to keep my going, even if i'm on the brink of exhaustion. I didn't get any sleep last night. Hell, I don't think anybody did.

The cold morning light shines through the frosted glass windows of the church, a much better light than gloomy, orange candles. It felt like we were at a Halloween party with those stupid things lit. "Okay. I'll go tell Rick we're leaving."

"Where exactly are you going?" I turn to see Bob watching us from the pews closest to us, close to the altar.

"Tyreese is _alive_, Bob, can you believe it?"

Bob smiles one of those smiles only Bob can pull off. He crosses the distance between us and envelops me in a hug. "I'm going with you." He says into my shoulder. After all, I am taller than him.

"Okay" is all I can say before he's kissing me again. The last time we kissed was before we were even at Terminus, which was almost two days ago now. Way to long. His lips are soft and feel amazing against my own. Sadly, it's only a short kiss, because we have work to do.

"You guys done?" Carol asks, her arms crossed, a playful smile on her face. I can't help but laugh.

"_For now_." Carol pretends to gag in response.

Bob rounds up Isaac, who was praying of all things next to Kat. She hasn't woken up yet, and it's starting to worry me. It's definitely taken a toll on Isaac. We walk into the second back room, the one farther away from the alter. Inside, I see Rick eating dry cereal for breakfast. He's sitting on a metal office desk, while Alex, Connor and Ashley eat on the couch, all smiles and giggles. Carl is fast asleep on the ground at the feet of the couch.

"Rick, we're going to get Tyreese. We'll be back before noon." Carol informs him plainly. Rick perks up. "Tyreese? Do you know where he is, Carol?" Isaac tells Rick where Tyreese is, and all Rick does is nod.

"He can hold out there for another day, at least. We need you four here, in case we have to defend this place. We don't know how many people got out of Terminus. They could be looking for us as we speak. I have to say no."

"Rick, this is Tyree-"

"I know, Sasha. But the way Isaac here described it, he'll be fine."

"Rick, Judith is there with him."

_What?_ _That's news_. Rick looks at Carol dead seriously when she says that. But his death glare breaks into frustrated confusion. "S-she's...what?" He obviously thinks he misheard Carol. I think I might have misheard Carol.

"Rick, Judith is with Tyreese. He got out with her, and we took her to Terminus. But, Tyreese got out with her before we attacked. She's alive, Rick."

"Hurry, then. Don't tell Carl, I want it to be a surprise." He's in obvious disbelief.

"You want to come with?"

"No-no...I _trust _you, Carol. Bring her back safe. Please." His voice is as soft as it can get. There's something between Carol and Rick, I can see it plain as day. What it is, I don't know. But it's there. The four of us are walking out of the room when Rick speaks up again.

"Actually, yeah, i'll tag along with ya'll." He sets down the empty bowl, hops off the desk, and joins us. We're almost through the front doors when Daryl and Maggie stop us.

"Where are you all going? Guard duty?" Maggie asks.

"We're going to get Tyreese. He's alive."

Maggie sighs, like she simply forgot to tell me my brother was alive. "Oh yeah, that's right. Come back soon, please."

Rick smiles just a little. "You and Daryl are in charge until I get back."

Daryl reaches into his knapsack, tossing Rick a walkie-talkie. "Maggie grabbed a couple at Terminus. If anything happens, let us know. We're not getting separated again." Rick looks at the walkie for a hard second, before clipping it onto his utility belt.

And we're off.

_ALEX'S POV _

For the first time in almost three weeks, I can actually relax.

I've almost forgotten what this feels like. Ever since the prison was destroyed, my life has been all walkers and dark forest and chaos. I've been shot at on several occasions, actually shot once, suffered concussions, almost mauled and eaten by hordes of walkers, and even captured by a group of cannibals. At least that's what Maggie told us. She said she'd seen piles of bones and human remains scattered all over the place.

But now, for the first time in what feels like forever, I can truly relax. We have enough people to fend off walkers, and scare off groups of people. We have shelter. We have food. There was a decent amount of canned goods in the other back room, so everybody was able to eat as much as they wanted. Michonne and Daryl are planning a run into a near by town for later today.

Probably the only bad thing is that my ankle still hurts something fierce. The Termites fixed it up well, taking out the bullet fragments and disinfecting the wound, but it'll be a week at least before I can put any weight on it. Which is extremely frustrating. I'm practically useless now. I can't help on guard duty, can't go out on runs, can't help Maggie with the injured. I can't even _stand_ up on my own. Ugh.

The door opens, and for a spit second i'm expecting that cannibal dude, Gareth, to walk in. It's not him, though. It's just Michonne, Daryl, and Tara. Michonne and Daryl sit down at the table on the far side of the room, while Tara plops down onto the couch next to me. She's found a new flannel jacket, so i'm assuming I can keep the one she gave me yesterday. Her hair is in a messy bun, but there are several thick strands of hair already slipping out.

Although she looks beat, Tara ruffles my hair. "You need a hair cut, bro."

"What? Are you being serious?" The idea sounds ludacris; Out of all the problems we have, she's worrying about my _hair_?

"Uh, YEAH! Just look at this mess," She pulls out my bangs, and lets them fall to my face. I admit my hair is on the longer side, but I didn't expect to see that my bangs fell past my nose when straight. "You can't fight or anything when you can't see, Alex."

"I suppose I could get a little trim..."

"GREAT! I'll go find some hair stuff." She leans down to Connor and Ashley, who are still tag teaming it against Carl on the floor. The checker game looks pretty intense. "Hey, you two wanna help me cut your brothers' hair?!" They say yes, of course, because who doesn't like the chance to come at their brother with a pair of scissors?

While they go off to get the proper stuff to cut my hair, I slowly slide off of the couch, landing on the carpet with a soft _thump_. Tara, Ashley and Connor come back a moment later with several pair of scissors. I run my hands through my greasy hair one last time. "Don't cut all of it off, please. I want it kind of like Carl's."

Carl smirks at that. "Yeah, right. This stuff is driving me crazy." He takes off his sheriff's hat, letting his mop of brown hair cascade down his face, almost reaching the tops of his shoulders.

"Never mind...A little shorter than Carl's should work."

At first, when I see pieces of my hair fall down to the floor in front of me, I panic. I never did like hair cuts, but this will be the first one since...well, before I was at the Prison. Before the turn, I used to have my hair close cropped, but once everything started, it kind of got tedious cutting my hair ever other week.

Midway through my hair cut, Carl decides he wants one, too. Ashley is charged with the task of combing his hair straight, while Tara and Connor finish with me. When they get done, one of them hands me a small hand held mirror. I admit, with the supplies and experience present, it didn't turn out that bad. Now I don't have to sweep my hair off to the side, it falls straight down my forehead, barely touching my eyebrows.

Maggie walks in a few seconds later, takes one look at my new hair cut, and starts laughing uncontrollably. Daryl and Michonne glance over and smile, not menacingly like Maggie. I put on my best pouty face. When Maggie looks up, she just starts laughing again.

"What's your problem?" I have to ask, after two consecutive minutes of Maggie laughing. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"It's just..._different _is all." She turns to Daryl and Michonne. "Hey, can you two take care of my guard shift? I need to check Caroline's wound again." They curtly nod at her, and exit the room smiling.

"Do you want to take a break, Maggie? You've been working all night, you need to sleep." Tara says, while doing a moderately decent job of cutting Carl's hair.

"I'll be fine. Just need to grab something quick to eat..." She wipes her hand over her face, and yawns loudly. "Maggie, sit down." I say, but she just shakes her head. Since I can't get up, I call on Connor and Ashley to do my dirty work. "Get her." I tell them, and they race across the room until they've wrapped themselves around her arms completely.

Maggie gives in, and sits down on the couch. She yawns again, kicking me in the shoulder playfully. "Screw you." And then she's out like a light, snoozing softly, sleeping in a sitting position. Connor grabs a blanket, and drapes it over her. Once Tara is done with Carl's hair, it looks very much like mine.

"Why'd you offer to cut my hair? Were you a stylist or something?" I can't help but ask Tara as she sets the scissors and mirror down on the table. "No, but my mom was. She would always mumble tips and stuff when she would cut my hair. Payed off, I guess."

Glenn appears in the doorway, knocking on the door softly. "So that's where she ran off too." He shakily makes his way over to the couch on spaghetti legs, holding his head. I'm just surprised that he doesn't have any permanent brain damage from that hit with the metal bat yesterday.

Glenn sits down softly next to Maggie, wrapping his arm around her and burrowing under the blanket. Tara smiles at the scene. So does Carl. I can't help but imagine how happy he'll be when Rick returns with his baby sister Judith. I told him they went to find Tyreese, but I didn't mention anything about Judith.

Let's just hope they'll be back soon...

ISAAC'S POV

Seeing Sasha and Tyreese reunite was something special.

Seeing Rick reunite with Judith is a completely different story.

Upon seeing her cradled in Tyreese's arms, he breaks away from the rest of us to embrace Tyreese and Judy. He gives Tyreese a knowing look, says something to him I can't hear, and takes Judith gently into his own arms. Happy tears cascade down his face, getting lost in his beard. Tyreese envelops Sasha in another bear hug, while Carol, Bob and I watch happily.

However, that all changes when Bob is shot.

Blood starts pouring out ominously from his upper calf, and he looks down in horror. Sasha realizes what's going on first, and screams. Her and Tyreese run over to Bob, supporting him just as he starts to fall over. Carol and I have our guns out, searching in the woods for the shooter. A light drizzle starts just at this moment, as if sensing the sour turn of events.

I hear a maniacal laugh from somewhere in the area. It can't be from the woods, because it's too faint. That's when I realize that i'm looking in the wrong places. The clearing we're in is bordering the fences of Terminus, and beyond the fence, I can make out a figure standing on the roof of the nearest warehouse.

"I did warn you not to try anything stupid, Rick." Gareth's voice pierces the warm autumn air over his megaphone, all the way from the Terminus compound. That's when the people in the forest around us come out of their hiding spots behind the trees, aiming their guns at us, menacingly creeping closer.


	6. Chapter 6: We're All Sinners Pt 1

_ISAAC'S POV _

"Get ready to run." Rick says, turning on the walkie-talkie in his back pocket. Smart. Hopefully Daryl hears what's about to go down. There's about 6 Termites surrounding us, all with smug looks on their faces. I don't blame them. Bob's shot, and Rick is holding his infant daughter. Leaving Carol, Sasha, Tyreese and myself to defend.

"Hand over all of your guns, now." Alex, not our Alex, _evil cannibal_ Alex, the one with greasy black hair and snake eyes, like Gareth's. They could almost be _brothers_.

"I don't think we will." Rick says in defiance. He's wearing his scary serious face, staring a black hole through Alex.

Alex snorts. "Really, and why not, cowboy?"

"You're really going to shoot a baby?" I wouldn't put it past them.

"Don't make us. I won't repeat myself again. Hand over all of your guns, and the baby lives, Rick." I don't think that threatening Judith blatantly in front of Rick is the _smartest_ move. Rick glances over at Carol, then at me, nodding just the slightest. He doesn't have to tell me twice to open fire.

Carol unleashes a round of bullets at Alex before diving inside the chariot. One connects square in his forehead, and he dies instantly. The remaining Termites open fire, taking cover behind trees surrounding the clearing. Alex's blood mixes with the mud, turning it a dark brick color.

"Rick, I got you! Let's go!" Tyreese yells, shielding him and Judith as they run away. Sasha pulls out her gun, and starts shooting at the nearest Termite, but all she's hitting is tree. "Sasha, get Bob out of here! I'll be right behind you!"

"Isaac, what are you doing?"

"_JUST GO_!" Sasha doesn't argue. With Bob' leaning on her for support, she stumbles after Rick and Tyreese. I jog over to Carol inside the chariot, careful to avoid being shot. She's ran out of ammo, and the Termites know it. Two come out of hiding, spraying the side of the chariot with bullets. That's when I realize I still have my automatic rifle. I fire, hitting one of them in the shoulder, and they dive back behind their tree. We probably have 10 seconds before they start closing in.

"Jump over the fence, i'll hold them off." Carol looks at me in shock.

"Isaac NO! You'll get killed!"

"Just do it, please! I'm pretty sure some of them followed Rick and the others. If they don't make it, and we all get captured, we're all dead" She looks like she wants to argue back, but another volley of machine gun fire silences her. She nods, and I shoot wildly towards the Termites. Carol sprints for the fence, and is over in a few seconds. Oh no, Gareth is still in there, I realize suddenly. I may have just sent Carol to her death.

My gun clicks repeatedly, signaling i'm out of ammo. Before the Termites can act, I charge out of the chariot, machete in hand, ready to kill. The first one doesn't notice my approach, and gets his neck slit wide open, the jagged tip of my machete getting caught in his neck. I tackle another Termite, but before I can deliver the finishing blow, hands are grabbing at my arms, and i'm kicked in the back. Several times.

I feel cold steel lock around my wrists. They've handcuffed me. I'm put in a sitting position against a tree, and kicked in the stomach for good measure. My whole body is covered in sticky mud, and the gentle shower of rain turns into a torrential downpour.

"Well, looks like we're eating good tonight." One of them comments smugly.

_ALEX'S POV_

The soft _pitter patter_ turns into a steady drumbeat as the rain hits the roof faster and harder. It's the only sound in the church. Well, at least in the rows and rows of cushioned pews. Glenn, Carl, Connor and Ashley are in one of the backrooms. In the other one, on the other side of the altar, Rosita, Eugene and Tara are resting. Abraham, Maggie, Daryl and Michonne are on guard duty, patroling the perimeter in the rain. Rick, Isaac, Carol, Sasha and Bob are somewhere out there, reuniting with Tyreese.

Kat lies next to me, still unconscious. Carol told me a bullet grazed her when Rick and the rest of us attacked Terminus. Which means one of us probably shot her. The bandage wrapped tightly around her head is stark white and clean compared to her dirty tan skin and oily black hair. Maggie says she should wake up soon, but still, Kat is showing no signs of waking up. Her breathing is shallow but steady, which I assume is a good sign.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but it's me. Alex." It feels weird talking to someone in a coma, but I remember learning somewhere that people in comas can sometimes hear and smell stuff around them, so I continue.

"We got out of Terminus. Maggie finally found Glenn, so you don't have to hear her nagging about it anymore. Um...we hooked up with Rick's group. Some people from the prison. Isaac left with Sasha and Bob to go get Rick's baby daughter, Judith. Oh, Jude died when we were escaping." I didn't know Jude was dead until Isaac told me this morning, when I woke up. It sucks royally, because she was such a nice person. I remember the first day we met her, in a standoff inside her estate. She gave us shelter, food, comfort. I wish we could have given her a proper funeral...

There's a knock on the door.

"Is there anyone in there? Because, well...this is kind of my church." The voice behind the door sound very unsure of himself. It could be an act, though. Maybe this was one of the Terminus outposts or something and they've found us...and how did he get past our guards? Oh god I have to warn the others...

Using an old wooden crutch as support, I hobble down the aisle quickly. Just as I open the door to one of the backrooms, the crutch catches on the carpet and I fall face first into the room. "There's someone at the door!" Rosita and Tara are at my sides instantly, and they help me up. I'm placed on a wooden chair.

"What? What about the guards? Abraham?" Rosita asks, surprised.

"I don't know. I think it might be a trap..."

Suddenly the double doors of the church burst wide open. I peer outside to see Sasha has tackled a man through the freaking doors. I can't see his face, but the man is black, bald, and...wearing a suit? Are you kidding me? Rick comes in next, flanked by Michonne and Daryl. He's holding a little girl that can only be Judith Grimes. Tyreese, Maggie and Abraham come in last, supporting Bob, who's bleeding from his leg. They set him down on the nearest pew; Maggie grabs her "medical kit" and goes to work cleaning his wound. All of them are covered in mud, all wet and sticky. The smell of grass and rain overwhelms the church. Thunder crackles outside.

"How did this happen? He was literally right at our door!" Rick is pissed, yelling at Daryl.

"There were some walkers, went to take 'em out. It got a little messy."

Rick takes a deep breath. "From now on, we have a guard on the door at all times." He turns to Sasha, who's now holding the intruder up by his collar.

"Who are you?"

"I-I'm-Gabriel. Father Gabriel, and this is my c-church..." He drifts off, clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation. Michonne grabs a burlap sack from outside, and dumps the contents on the ground. Cans of food, a few boxes of instant mashed potatoes, and a couple packages of batteries. Rick looks at Gabriel hard, and he must realize he isn't a threat, because he has Sasha let him go. The Father straightens his suit, and wipes off some of the mud.

"Rick, we have to go back for them!" Sasha says frantically, practicality running back out into the rain.

"We will-"

"Wait, who's gone?" I interrupt from across the church. Rosita and Tara have helped me up, and we stand near the altar. Sasha whips her head around, making eye contact with me. "Isaac and Carol. We were ambushed by Gareth and a couple others."

"He's still alive?" Tara sounds shocked. I freeze up in horror._ No, no no no no. He has Isaac..._

"Are you working with Terminus?" Daryl asks Gabriel gruffly, aiming his crossbow at his chest.

"W-what? Who? I'm alone, I s-swear!"

"He's innocent." Rick declares, "Michonne, Daryl, Sasha and Tyreese, with me." The people called on huddle up with Rick. Abraham rushes up the aisle and into the second backroom, making sure Eugene is safe. Glenn and Carl emerge from the other room, guns drawn. Carl looks different with his new hair, but he still looks deadly.

"What's going on? Maggie?" Glenn sits down at Maggie's side, resting his hand on her shoulder as she works on Bob's leg. Carl locks his eyes on Judith, confused at first. But then he completely drops his gun, running up towards his dad. He crashes into Rick and Judith unexpectedly, and Rick almost falls over. Carl grabs Judy out of Rick's arms gently, hugging her tightly against his chest. She starts crying, and so does he. But Carl's tears are of the happy kind.

Everyone seems moved, myself included. The tense atmosphere is erased, and everyone settles down. Rick has Abraham take Gabriel into a backroom for questioning. Meanwhile, Rick, Tyreese, Daryl, Sasha and Michonne get ready to head out in search for Carol and Isaac. Maggie patches up Bob's leg with Glenn at her side. Rosita and Eugene head back inside the room to rest. Tara sits me down on the floor, and races back into the other room. She comes out a few seconds later with the checkerboard in hand.

As we're setting up the game, however, I hear a familiar voice.

"What the hell did I miss?"

It's _Kat_.

"Oh my god." If I could, i'd run to her and hug her fiercely, but since I can't, all I can do is call Kat over. Kat stares around the room full of people she's never met, and they stare back briefly. Besides Maggie, everyone goes back to what they were doing. Kat's a little wobbly, but Maggie sees she's up and helps her make the journey down the aisle. Kat plops down the floor between Tara and I, and THAT'S when I wrap her in a tight hug.

"Seriously, though, what _happened_?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Tara asks her. Kat looks at her confused. Oh, that's right. They haven't met. Tara realizes this as well. "Hi, i'm Tara" She extends her hand, and Kat shakes it nervously. "I remember Carol saying you were on the other side of the gunfight...at Terminus."

"Well, ah, we got captured. But, that night, Maggie came in with a group of people who are all dead now. Carol and Isaac attacked from the inside, and we all escaped. Well, not everybody. Jude died. Last night, we found this place. You've only been out a day."

"Jude _died_? Are you serious?" She looks shocked.

"Sadly, I am."

"Damn...where's Isaac? I haven't seen him in a week." She scans the church, but doesn't see him. "Is he in one of those rooms or something?"

"He's...well, he's somewhere in the woods, with Carol." This is going to be difficult to say the least.

"Why? Are they on a run or something?"

"No..well, they went with Rick, Sasha and Bob to go and get Tyreese and Rick's daughter, Judith. They got ambushed by a couple Termites that survived, Gareth included..." Kat's eyes go wide.

"They just _left _them there?"

"No, they got chased awa-" I start, but Sasha comes in for the save.

"He made the rest of us leave. Said he would cover us." She kneels down next to Kat. "Good to see you awake. Wanna tag along with us? I think Isaac grabbed your stuff before we left Terminus." Sasha offers her a hand.

"Hell yeah, i'm in." Kat takes it, and goes with Sasha.

"Do they _ALL_ need to go? They're taking a lot of guns." Tara comments, making the first move in our checker game.

"They've got it. All of them are complete badasses, they know what their doing. Gareth doesn't stand a chance." _I hope_.

_ISAAC'S POV_

"Hey, wake up there, bud. You're not dead yet."

Slowly and painfully, I open my eyes. It's dark out, except for a dull orange glow that must be coming from a fire. Something is cooking, and it probably smells great, but all I can focus anything on is Gareth's face in front of me.

"Don't let the '_yet_' get to you too much, Isaac. We don't have any intention of killing you, you taste too good."

"W-w-what?" I sense a dull pain in my left leg, and I glance down. I wish I didn't. My leg is completely gone from the knee down._ No, no, no, no, no..._

Gareth cuts himself a piece of my leg off of the fire. He takes a huge bite, grease dripping down his chin. He smiles sadistically, chews, and swallows. "If it makes you feel any better, you taste much better than we thought you would."

Before I can even digest what he just said, one of the other cannibals yells "Roamers!" Gareth swears, shoves the last of the piece of my leg into his mouth, and heads over to the other side of the camp to deal with the walkers. I hear the signature moans and growls of the dead in the distance.

I see a lone walker make it's way up to me, slowly limping it's way forward, undetected by the Termites. Half of one leg is practically bone, with a few sinewy strands of flesh hanging off it. How ironic. Weakly, I try to stop it by holding out my arms in defense, but it falls in my lap anyways. The walker sinks it's teeth into my forearm. The pain is indescribable. Worse than being stabbed in the thigh, worse than getting shot, even worse than watching all of my family eaten alive in the beginning. After all this time, all I've been through, this is how it'll end. Bitten by some stupid walker after facing off against hordes of them for years. Somebody shoots the walker, checks my arm, and swears loudly.

"I guess i'm tainted meat...won't be eating me now..." The crazy notion slips past my lips. It sounds completely insane, but I don't have much time left anyways. The rest of the cannibals form a semi circle around me. "...Tainted meat...TAINTED MEAT!" I launch into a fit of crazed laughter that i'm unable to stop. I see someone's boot coming towards at my face. I barely feel my nose break before I pass out.


	7. Chapter 7: We're All Sinners Pt 2

_Happy Thanksgiving! :) _

_~TheChuckles_

_ALEX'S POV _

It's dark outside when they return. We've had to light more of those gloomy orange candles, filling the air with light smoke and ominous orange light.

Kat is the very first one through the double doors. She throws her shotgun on the ground in rage, screaming. Carol is next, leaning on Daryl for support. Sasha and Tyreese come next, followed by Rick and Michonne. Michonne closes the doors after she enters, which means they didn't find Isaac, which explains why Kat is so angry.

"Listen, we'll continue the search tomorrow-"

"He's probably already dead! You people left him there!" Kat screams at Rick, pulling at her disheveled hair. Michonne places her hand casually on her katana.

"We _told _you already, Isaac said he would be right behind us. He bought Carol enough time to escape. We didn't _leave _him there. We would never do that." Sasha says calmly, but it's having no effect on Kat. When she gets mad, she gets _M-A-D MAD_. Just ask Maggie.

"I'm going back out there." Kat scoops up her shotgun and makes for the doors. Michonne blocks her path. Kat exhales through her mouth loudly. "We can't let you do that." Michonne tells her, crossing her arms. In return, Kat punches her hard in the nose. But Michonne's too strong to be taken out by a punch. She gives Kat a death glare before flat out tackling her.

"Hey! Hey!" Tyreese pulls Michonne off of Kat kicking and screaming. One of her kicks connects with Kat's chin, sending her head back violently. Kat rolls over, stands up and grabs her hatchet, wiping blood off of her bottom lip. "You bitch!" She screams, swinging for Michonne's neck. Daryl swoops in just in the knick of time, blocking Kat's hatchet swing with his crossbow. By this point Abraham, Rosita and Eugene are standing in the shadows by the altar, watching everything unfold. Tara and I are sitting in the middle pews. Glenn and Maggie are sitting in the pews as well. Carl, Gabriel, everyone else is sleeping. Or at least _was _sleeping.

"Kat, stop this! We can work this out!" Sasha tries again to calm Kat down, but it doesn't work. "I should have never let you people on my bus. I should have just took off! Isaac would still be alive! My DAD would still be a alive!" Kat spits back at her viciously. Sasha is clearly taken aback. I need to stop this.

"Kat!" I yell, and she looks at me with crazy, angry eyes. "What would it accomplish if you went back out there anyways, by yourself? You'd get captured, or killed, or lost. Please, just rest. Drop this!" At first I think my words may have gotten to her, but that hope vanishes when she scowls at me.

"If I never met you, none of this would've ever happened! You dragged me into all of this!" She pauses.

"I wish I would've killed you that day."

I can't help but get angry at her. How the _fuck_ can she say that? After all we've been through? I try to push her harmful words away, because I know she doesn't mean it, but I just can't. A single tear escapes my defenses, leaving a warm sensation as it glides down my face. But i've lost all sympathy for Kat. Before I can say anything back, even though I don't know how I could possibly make a comeback to that, Maggie speaks up.

"How could you say that? He's just a kid!" Maggie pushes her way past Glenn and Rick to get right in Kat's face. Before Kat can say anything back, Sasha silences everybody.

"SHH! I hear something!" Everyone pauses, and for a couple seconds there's absolute silence. But then I hear it. Somebody is whistling outside...

_SASHA'S POV_

I don't know how I heard the whistle over everyone's bickering, but I did. My first instinct is to find a way to peer outside and see what's going on, but instead Kat charges right past me, through the doors, and gasps. Rick's next, and I can hear him mutter "Oh god". When I come outside, I see what they're gawking at.

Isaac is lying a couple feet away, his left leg gone at the knee, and a big walker bite on his forearm. A few walkers attracted by the whistler are slowly limping their way forward, but Rick and I go to deal with them. Rick shoots with his signature gun, not even caring about the noise it makes. I shoot two walkers closing in on Isaac, about to shoot the third when someone else does. I look at Rick in confusion, but it wasn't him.

Someone else is out there.

Rick fires a couple rounds into the forest, before helping Kat lift Isaac back into the church. "Maggie!" Rick yells, but she's already there. She glances at Isaac, and looks back up at Rick in despair. "I can't do anything. He's been bitten."

"Can't you cut off his arm?"

"Well, I could, but-"

"No." Isaac moans. "It's been too long for that. I'm...tainted meat..."

Kat is openly sobbing now. "What have they done to you?" She whispers to Isaac, all she can manage before she collapses again.

"They're cannibals. Ate my l-leg right in front of me. They've been watching us, since we left Terminus." Isaac's voice is weak. Everyone has been stunned into silence. Kat is the worst. She's known Isaac practically since it all began, she's told me. But Maggie and Alex are bad off as well. Both are visibly shaken. Alex is quietly crying into his lap, Tara trying to comfort him.

"We have to get the hell out of dodge." Abraham finally speaks up from the other side of the church. "Get your bags ready. We're leaving." He says to Rosita and Eugene, who do as he says obediently, although hesitantly.

"You can't leave." Rick says quietly, inviting Abraham to challenge him. Oh, and he does.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, you can't leave."

"And why the hell not?" Abe closes the distance between Rick and himself until their about 5 feet apart. "Because we need to stick together. There's dangerous people outside. _Cannibals_ even, and you want to just take off? Right now?" Rick answers him, but Abraham isn't having any of it.

"Damn right. Look, i'm sorry about your friend, really, I am. But we have an important mission, unless you've forgotten." He points to Eugene. "He has the cure that will end this whole fucking apocalyptic hell! We have to get him the hell out of here!"

"He's safest right here. Out there, he could get shot or captured or anything." Rick does make a good point.

"Not if we're on the church bus." It takes me a minute to remember that Abraham was working on the broken down church bus out back earlier today. "Please, come with us. We need the help."

"I'll go, but only if we help Rick first." Tara says, standing up and walking up to Abraham. Alex looks at her in disbelief. Hell, I think everybody does.

"Tara..." Alex calls, but his voice fades away.

"You all should come with us, but after we deal with Gareth and the rest of those cannibals."

"I'm in." It's Kat, standing up as she says so, wiping her nose with her sleeve. She stands next to Tara. Abraham looks at both of them. "You'll join, but only if we help them first?" Both Tara and Kat nod.

Abraham thinks about it a moment. "Glenn and Maggie too."

"No." Rick says plainly.

"Done." Glenn says. Rick turns to look at Maggie and Glenn.

"You can't do that."

"It's not your call." Maggie says. "But if we leave, we need to take Caroline with. I've cleaned her stomach wound best I can, but we need some strong meds. I don't know which."

"She'd just slow us down." Abe says plainly.

"I'll go on a run tomorrow." Daryl says.

"Me too." Carol says instantly.

"Thank you." Maggie says, nodding appreciatively at Daryl. "Okay, we'll stay to help you with this. Afterwards, however, we're gone. You all should come with us." Abraham tells Rick, but Rick shakes his head.

"We hardly have any supplies, we have an injured woman. Bob's been shot, he needs to rest. We need to rest." He sighs. "We'll be able to leave in probably two days."

"I'll get you a map." Rosita says, her and Eugene done packing.

"Well, with that settled, let's go kill some cannibals." Rick says. Everyone circles up. Rick's plan is dangerous, I admit, but it's the only way we can catch Gareth off guard, if he really is watching our every move. Rick, Abraham, Kat, Daryl, Carol, Tara, Michonne and myself gear up and leave the church noticeably through the front doors. Tyreese, Bob, Rosita, Eugene and the rest stay behind, hidden in the back rooms.

Walking through the woods, I can easily see Gareth's group far off to our right, watching us like hawks. The rain has let up, and a full moon has come out, illuminating the forest. They don't see that we see them, however, and once we pass them, they make for the church. Rick calls everyone to a halt.

Once we see them kick open the church doors, we advance. Slowly and stealthily back the way we came, until we're right outside the church. Peering inside, I can see Gareth ready to break down one of the doors, along with two other thugs. That's when we shoot the two cannibals dead, their blood staining the honey colored walls.

Gareth looks at us in shock. "Drop your weapons and kneel." Rick says with authority. He advances on Gareth, while Abe, Kat and Michonne cover the last 3 remaining cannibals. Gareth throws down his gun and kneels before Rick.

"No point in begging, right?" Rick doesn't answer him, so he continues. "You could have been one of us, you know. We didn't want to eat people, we had to in order to survive. I can tell you've been on the road a while, but you don't know what it truly is to be hungry. I can see it in your eyes."

"You can let us go, and we will never, ever cross paths again. I swear on everything I have left, we won't touch you." Gareth pleads. Rick shakes his head slightly.

"No, I can't do that. Besides," He grabs at his red handled machete. "I already made you a promise."

_ALEX'S POV _

Isaac's last hours are painful to sit through. Rick and the others clean up the mess they made of Gareth and his cannibals in the main room, while Kat, Sasha, Maggie and I sit watching Isaac die on the couch, morning light filtering in weakly through the small window. His flannel shirt is soaked in blood, the walker bite painfully obvious. Kat sits closest to him, kneeling in front of the couch where he lies dying.

Bob would be in here, but his leg is hurting him too badly. Maggie could only do so much. Connor and Ashley are in the other room, saying goodbye to Tara. But besides them, the five of us in this room is all that's left of our original group. Dave died at Jude's estate. David and Micah died, followed by Jude a couple nights later. And now it's Isaac's turn. Who's next?

Isaac whispers something to Kat, who leans in close to hear what could be his last words. A smile makes its way through her tough demeanor, but it fades when Isaac's chest stops rising and falling. It's official, he's died. I shield my eyes as Kat slowly slips a knife into his temple to prevent reanimation, but I still cry. My eyes are red and puffy from crying all night. This whole thing is so fucked up.

Isaac's dead. Maggie and Kat are leaving with Abraham to try for Washington, along with Glenn, Rosita, Eugene and Tara. Carol and Daryl are taking off with an injured Caroline to find meds for her, and probably Bob too. Both of them were shot, they'll probably need the same medicine. Rick, Sasha, Tyreese and Father Gabriel are leaving for a supply run into a near by down any minute now. Leaving behind Bob, Carl, Connor, Ashley, Judith, Michonne and myself.

How come I can't shake the feeling that i'll never see some of them again?


	8. Chapter 8: Branching Out

_Hi! What a mid-season finale! Speaking of that, though, I just wanted to let you all know that once this story passes the events that happen in the mid-season finale, I won't be basing the story off of what happens in the show anymore. So, when the show comes back in February, this fanfic will be COMPLETELY different from the show's timeline...hopefully that'll make it a little more...interesting ;) _. _With that said, this chapter is pretty important, as it sets up the next big story arc. Introducing some new POV's as well :) ~TheChuckles_

_KAT'S POV _

I watch from a distance as Maggie and Sasha say goodbye. They hug tightly, Sasha wiping a tear out of her eye. It may be the last time they see each other, but at least they still _have _eachother. Everybody I knew before is dead now. My dad, all my friends, even Isaac. Sure, I know Maggie and Sasha and a couple others, but compared to the friends I used to have, they're nothing.

Abraham and Glenn finish loading the church bus, and call for the rest of us to get on board. Tara and Maggie walk in together, followed by Rosita and Eugene. I'm last, taking one of the seats at the very back, away from everybody else. The last time I was on a bus, my Dad was still alive. Isaac was still alive. It was before everything went to hell.

"Kat, aren't you gonna sit with us?" Maggie pats the seat behind her and Glenn. Tara's in front of them, alone, while Rosita and Eugene sit right behind Abraham in the driver's seat. "Nah, i'm not feeling too good. I think i'll take a little nap." Maggie nods, before going back to her conversation with Glenn and Tara. She knows why i'm not feeling well. She might have knew Isaac for a couple weeks, became friends with him perhaps. But I knew him in a completely different level. For nearly two years, we survived side by side. Other people might have come and gone, but Isaac and my dad were always my constants.

And anyways, doesn't Maggie have a _sister_? I remember her saying something about it when we were still at Jude's estate. I think she was on the Terminus cannibal express or something. Did she die? I think Tara was telling Alex something about her getting taken by the Termites or something?

_Alex._

Even through my rage and aggression, I know I shouldn't blame him. He was just a kid looking for his friends, and I helped him, but at a huge cost. Meeting him led me to Maggie, who led me to Jude, who eventually led me to this whole group of people, who led us to Terminus. Which led to Isaac dying. If I hadn't taken him in, showed mercy on him and his siblings, I wouldn't be in this predicament. I wouldn't be alone. But how could I have known all of this would happen? Maybe I should've just _shot_ him...no, that's evil. I should have just kept walking, but we needed supplies...

It's just too complicated.

I lie back on the bus seat, my feet resting on the floor. The others are all chatting away as Abraham starts up the bus. The loud hum of the engine is almost soothing, compared to walker growls and gunshots and other horrible noises i've grown accustomed too. Maybe we will get to Washington in one peace. Maybe Eugene does in fact know the cure. Maybe, a year or two from now, everything will be back to the way it once was.

I feel the bus start to move, and I fall asleep.

_CAROLINE'S POV_

The first thing I see when I wake up is a man with long, greasy brown hair staring down at me. He has just a hint of facial hair. It looks like he just shaved. He's wearing a sleeveless jacket, so I can admire his big arms. He looks _hot_. Only if I could see more...I try to sit up, say something smart maybe, but then my abdomen reminds me i've been shot. An explosion of pain in my stomach area sends me back down on my back grimacing.

"Whoa, take it easy there." A woman's voice says, leaning down to feel my forehead with the back of her hand. "You've been shot." She has short grey hair, tattered clothes on like_ Mr. Gorgeous_ standing to her left. I recognize her to be Carol. My heart sinks. What if they're together? Him and Carol?

"I know...I know...where's everybody else? Maggie? Everyone else? Where's my gun?"

"Maggie's fine, and we have your gun...But, uh...everyone else you were with died. I'm sorry." Carol says with remorse, but I just shrug.

"It's fine, I guess. Didn't really know any of them too good to be sad..what about Maggie's sister and Elijah? You guys find them yet?"

Carol looks confused, but Handsome next to her speaks up. "Maggie says they were taken by the Termites. We didn't find them, they're probably dead too."

"What happened to the Termites? Did we kill 'em all?"

"Yeah" is all he says back.

Switching back to Elijah and Beth... "Could they have _escaped_?"

"Maybe." He says, but it sounds like he doesn't believe it. I really hope they aren't dead. Eli's a good kid, so is Beth. I'm sure if I was still a Social Studies teacher and the world wasn't over and everything, they'd make great students.

Carol speaks up again. "We're gonna take you with us on a run, to find you some meds. You're stomach wound looks bad, Maggie thinks it might be infected, but she's not a doctor."

"Oh, okay...where's Maggie? She coming with us?"

"No, she left with some others for Washington D.C. One of our guys knows how to end all of this."

"For real?" The prospect of a cure to all of this sound amazing. Almost too good to be true, in fact. "You know he's not lying? What is it?"

"Classified." Both Carol and the man say at the same time, both with whimsical smiles. "C'mon, let's get you into the car." The man says. Together, they manage to lift me up without causing me too much pain to my abdomen. They gently set me down in the backseat of an old black car that's stuffed with pillows. It's hot, even with the windows rolled down. The car smells musty and old. Maybe we can find some car fresheners along the way. They hop into the front seats, and we take off.

"You never told me your name.." I say over the sound of wind blowing against the car.

"Daryl Dixon at your service, miss Caroline." The man, Daryl, says, looking back with a smile. He's the one driving. "Carol, do we got any CDs? I'd love to hear something else than the wind."

"You have the pleasure of my company." Carol says grinning.

"Oh, stop." Daryl rolls his eyes.

Carol checks the glove compartment, pulling out a handful of CD cases. She sorts through them impatiently until she finds one she smiles at. A couple seconds later, smooth saxophone music starts up. Daryl groans.

"Are you kidding me?"

Carol pats him on the shoulder. "Don't like it, Pookie?"

_SASHA'S POV_

"How long are you gonna be gone?"

"Just a couple hours, Bob. Calm down, i'll be _fine_." I say, kissing him lightly on the forehead. He groans. "Do you even have to go? Rick has Tyreese..." I shush him by placing my finger on his lips. He frowns.

"Shh. Rick needs me. Gabriel doesn't have the first clue on how to kill walkers, and even if he did, I doubt he actually would. Besides, you have Michonne and Carl. You'll be fine." Bob tries to say something back, but I cover my ears and walk away slowly, a playful grin on my face. If Bob could get up, he'd come after me. But since he was shot in the leg yesterday, he's out of commision.

"You ready?" Rick asks once I join him and the others outside the church.

"Yeah, let's roll." Michonne closes the church doors, waving goodbye. Even with the doors closed, I can still hear Judith crying from inside, which isn't good. Tyreese told me last night that her cries gave away where they were hiding. But she's in safe hands, so I guess it's okay. At least we aren't camped out in the open.

Father Gabriel leads the way, followed closely by Rick. Tyreese and I walk a couple yards behind them, scanning the surrounding forest for threats. I can't wait until we take off for Washington, and meet up with Maggie and the rest. I've seen enough forest for a lifetime. Only if Abraham could've wait a couple days. But I guess when you're this close to saving the world, you don't want to sloth around very much.

I wonder what's up there, too. I can't imagine that the whole entire city is still intact. Probably just the White House and that whole area. I wonder if the President is even still alive? Do we still have a Congress? Do they have electricity up there? Eugene wouldn't let anything slip about what's going on up there.

After an hour of uneventful walking, we arrive in a small town. One of those towns where it's just Main Street and a few scattered houses around it. No McDonald's arch in sight, not even an Wal-Mart in the distance. The Father leads us up to an old thrift store. Surprisingly, it looks untouched.

Racks of used clothes dominate the space inside. Rick pushes ahead with Gabriel and Tyreese while I do a little shopping. Not for myself though, for everyone back at the church. I would never dare replace my leather jacket and Superman tank top. Thinking about my attire reminds me of where I got it. It seems like so long ago, that day Maggie, Alex and I went searching for Glenn. We had prepared to be gone for weeks, but seeing the Terminus cannibal caravan of doom heading towards the estate radically changed our plans. Although, if we never headed back home, and Maggie and Alex never infiltrated the Termites, we would have never met back up with Rick and everybody else.

I spot a decent looking pair of black jeans with a rip in the knee. Upon further inspection, they look like they just might fit Alex. Just in case they don't, though, I grab a couple extra pairs of pants that look to be his size, although I don't actually know if they'll fit or not. All he has is cargo shorts right now, and it'll be cold soon. I find an insulated jacket, the kind Rick has on, and I dump it into my bag. If it's too big for Alex, Bob can wear it.

I'm looking at a nice pair of boots for Michonne when Rick calls out for me. "Sasha, come here. We've got a problem..." _Oh no, what happened now?_ Cautiously, I walk up to him, a backpack full of clothes on my back. There's a huge gap in the floor, and he's looking over the edge with a disgusted face. When I peek over the edge, I see shelves and shelves of canned food and other goodies. But that's not all that's down there. The area is flooded, and several walkers wander around in the murky water, all bloated and disgusting. The smell is awful. Yuck.


	9. Chapter 9: The Dawn of Injustice

_Let's rewind to the day Elijah and Beth were taken...the events in this chapter are taking place the day after everybody escapes Terminus..._

_ELIJAH'S POV _

The first thing I hear is a steady beeping. Loud and annoying, almost like i'm in a freaking hospital. Wait a minute. Without opening my eyes, I feel the scratchy hospital bed paper crinkle under my fingers, and the IV connected to my left arm. Well shit, I _AM_ in a hospital.

Opening my eyes, I'm greeted with a blaring white panel of light embedded into the ceiling above. Sitting up takes a lot of energy, and by the time I do manage to sit up, my back and abdomen are screaming out in pain. _I was hit with a car_, I remember. A sleek black car with a white cross on the back window. Beth was there too, but I don't see her in my room. Unless she's hiding behind the machines or the thin white curtains covering the window.

I slowly take the IV needle out of my arm, letting the mystery fluid drip onto the tile floor. I wince. _Fuck_, I hate needles. The TAP TAP TAP of the fluid hitting the floor is the only noise in the room. I try to stand up, but my legs feel like they're made of jelly. Sadly, I resolve to crawl along the cold floor, slowly making my way to the door. The meek hospital gown i'm wearing isn't very warm, leaving me chilled and shivering.

Just as I reach up to turn the door handle, I hear a set of keys jangle from the other side. _What the hell is this place?_ The only thing I know is that i'm not going down without a fight. Adrenaline kicks in, and I slide across the floor back to the side of my bed, grabbing the IV needle that's still dripping mystery fluid onto the floor. The door opens, and a police officer and a doctor walk in.

_What the hell._

"Put down the needle." The cop says assertively, and I comply to her demand, dropping the needle. The expression on her face is cold and robotic, accentuated by her cold blue eyes. Her hair is pulled back into a bun, so dark brown and sleek that it's almost black. The doctor on the other hand looks completely harmless. With his balding head, nerdy glasses, and sad attempt at a beard, he looks like a gamer nerd wearing doctor's clothes. A stethoscope is lazily hanging around his neck.

"Where the fuck am I? Why'd you run me over? Where's Beth?" The questions come pouring out. It's the officer who replies. I wish she didn't.

"You're at Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta. This is Dr. Edwards, and I'm Officer Dawn Lerner. My officer didn't run you over, he _saved _you, and now you owe us."

"I don't owe you shit, lady! Where's Beth? We're leaving!" I am not being held captive by another group of psychos, no way, I don't think so.

"She's checking up on the other patients. And no, you won't be leaving." Dawn says with authority. I already despise her.

"And why the fuck won't I be doing that? Huh?! BETH!" I use the bed to lift myself into a leaning position. "BETH!" I scream again. Dawn crosses the room in two swift steps and promptly slaps me hard across the face. Jesus Christ, she packs a punch. I sprawl onto the hospital bed, stomach first, but then I realize i'm completely naked underneath my gown, and it's open at the back. _God dammit. _

I flip around, sitting crosslegged on the bed, holding the right side of my face, blushing. "Because you owe me, kid. And, even if I let you go free, you couldn't make it out the front door in the condition you're in. The bottom floor is crawling with roamers."

"Well, then give me back my damn gun! You can't just take my personal property away from me like that, you're supposed to be a cop!"

Dawn leans in close, her face inches away from mine. "Listen brat, this place runs on a fragile system. We have to hold out until the government comes in and saves us. In here, you are not the greater good, we as a whole are the greater good." _Government_? The hell is she talking about, there is no government left! She turns away from my death stare to Dr. Edwards. "Get him some clothes, and send him to the cafeteria. He needs to get his strength back before he starts working."

"Listen here, Lady Liberty, you can't control me like this-" I start, but Dawn is already outside the door. "UGH!" I yell in frustration. Dr. Edwards reaches into the closet near the door, and pulls out a set of dull green hospital clothes. "Here, put these on. I'll be waiting outside." He sets the clothes on the bed, smiles at me briefly, before exiting the room. He closes the door on the way out, leaving me alone again for the moment.

I quickly change into the hospital clothes, ripping the cheap gown to shreds. Hope Dawn likes that. I grab the IV needle off the floor once again, and rip it free from the clear wire attached to it. My new pants have pockets, I discover, and that's where I hide my needle. The closet just contains more clothes, identical to the ones i'm wearing, along with other boring hospital crap like extra roles of bed paper, so no weapons there. All of the drawers on the doctor's desk are locked, and I kick them in rage. I forget that i'm not wearing shoes, however, and I stub my big toe. Son of a bitch, that hurts. I blink back tears.

"Everything okay in there?" The doctor asks through the door.

"Oh, peachy." I respond, heading towards the curtains wobbly. Sunlight wafts through the white curtains, and I instantly feel warmer. Encouraged, I peel back the curtains, and see the once fine city of Atlanta in ruins. Skyscrapers line the distance, looking grey and sick. Closer, I can see the rooftops of several flat buildings, vines growing rapidly in the cracks of the walls around them. Glancing below into the street, I can see at least 20 little black dots moving around, like ants on cement. Must be walkers. Yeah, there's no way i'm getting out of here without help.

Although I never visited Atlanta before everything went all batshit crazy, I can imagine it looked a hell of a lot better than this. Early on, the group I was with at the time and I traveled to Indianapolis to find family, and it wasn't nearly this bad. I heard a while ago that the government dropped freaking napalm bombs on Atlanta once it got really bad. That would explain the huge black scorch marks on some of the buildings, and the missing chunks out of others.

Deciding that I can't hide in my room forever, I slowly open the door and step out. Instantly, there's an officer there, and he's patting me down to check for weapons. _Well, damn._ To my dismay, he finds the needle in my pocket, chucking it down the hallway and chuckling. "Wait until Dawn hears about that." He has a baby face, the cop, his hair slicked back. His short and stubby body make him look younger than he actually is.

"Excuse me, but can I ask your name?" I ask him politely, so maybe he'll answer.

"Names' Gorman. Can I ask you why you wanted to know my name?"

"Oh, just wondering." If I could have said "Because when I escape this place and come back to kill you all, you're second on my kill list" and gotten away with it, I would have. Gorman smiles a creepy smile. "Come this way, Eli." Damn, Beth told them my name. I'm walked down the hallway flanked by Dr. Edwards and Gorman. Their shoes echo on the marble, while my bare feet just get cold.

We round a corner and end up in a small cafeteria. A line of slow cookers has been set up on one table as a buffet of sorts. Another cop stands guard by the hallway, still as a statue. Other than that, the only other person here is Beth. She's wearing clothes similar to mine, but she's also has a cast on her left arm. Her face is scraped up a bit, most noticeably a cut running along her forehead. What did they do to her?

"Can I at least eat alone, gentlemen?" I say with a mock British accent. Gorman frowns. "I'll be back in twenty minutes to take you to Dawn's office. C'mon Edwards, let leave the love birds alone." He says with a sneer, before exiting around the corner with Dr. Edwards in tow. Once their gone, I race over to Beth as fast as my spaghetti legs allow, and I collapse into her. Thankfully, she saw me coming, so instead of knocking her over, she locks me in a tight hug.

Her hair is fresh washed, I can tell, because her flowing blonde locks spill all over my face, soft and delightful. Her hair smells like strawberries. Yum. "Love birds" Gorman called us. Not a bad idea, dude...

"Um, you can let go now, Elijah." Beth says awkwardly, and I blush. She scoots over, and I slide onto the bench next to her.

"Why aren't you eating?" I ask her after an uncomfortable silence, my voice cracking quite embarrassingly. The guard is smirking, earning himself spot #3 on my kill list. Beth leans in close. At first I expect a kiss, but that proves to be a false hope.

"Listen, try not to eat as much as possible. You'll have to stay here longer. It's messed up here, but I know a guy who can get us out." The guard is looking at us suspiciously, but he doesn't move. Thank god, something goes my way.

"For real? How long have we been here?"

"About a day." Beth replies.

"Wow, you work fast, girl. Where do we start?"

She smiles one of her beautiful Beth smiles. "There's this guy named Noah. He's been here for like a year, so he knows the place pretty well. Anyways, he's agreed to let us tag along with him when he escapes." While I was out cold in dream world, Beth was already putting together our escape plan. _Damn, kudos to her._

"Sounds good. Where do we go after we escape? The city looks like it's crawling with walkers."

"Maggie's coming for us. I just know it. I heard her fire at the car after we got hit, so she must've followed it." She pauses. "Maybe the whole group is with her." The last part sounds like a fantasy.

"Who exactly is the whole group? I know Maggie and you, and i've known Alex since we were in elementary school. Oh, and I know Daryl too. But I don't know squat about the rest of this mystical prison group i've been hearing so much about. Enlighten me." I doubt that anyone besides Maggie is coming, but I need to distract myself. Alex ran off into the woods alone with just a damn knife, I hope he's okay, and you know, not dead. First time I see my best friend in 18 months and he's gone just like that.

"Well...where do I begin?" She giggles, and it's just adorable. There's Rick Grimes. He's pretty cool, and so is his son Carl. We met on my family farm, well, when we still had one." The way she says _'Carl'_ makes me queasy. Oh great, competition. Beth continues, "Then there's Glenn. He's Maggie's husband. He's really nice. There's Carol, she's probably the oldest left now. She used to have this really abusive husband, but he died. She's pretty badass..." Beth talks and talks about the group she's spent the last two years with while I just admire her face. Her beautiful eyes, full of life. Her totally kissable face...

"C'mon, Dawn wants to see you now." Gorman's disgusting voice totally ruins my vision of what Beth and I's kids would look like.

"You picked like the absolute worst time to come back, you know that right?" I can't help but sound disappointed. He just smiles his creepy Gorman smile. "I know." He grabs my arm roughly. "Let's stroll, buttercup."

"Okay, sweetie pie." I respond back, effectively shutting him up. Beth waves as I get dragged away. I wave back, smiling innocently. Once she leaves my sight, I turn around and actually start walking, but Gorman doesn't let go of my arm. I have to give him points for effort.

We take a few twists and turns before we finally end up in Dawn's office. Just like her personality, I realize, her office is blatantly plain. But if there's one thing about Dawn that creeps me out, it's her eyes. Her stare makes my blood run cold. In her hand, she holds up a certain IV needle that I may or may not have ripped off the IV machine and stash it away and use as a weapon. _Fuck. _

"Look's like someone is in trouble..." Gorman says, and I decide he'll die getting stabbed to death with a needle.

"Yes, someone is in trouble. Gorman, why don't you go and grab Beth for me?" My eyes go wide. _She wouldn't dare..._

"But she didn't do anything! It was me and you know it!" If I could, I would solidly wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze like a vise. Dawn smiles, and my blood turns to ice in my veins.

"I know. But, I think you'll fall in line faster if I threaten Beth, since Gorman has told me you have something of a crush on her." She smiles again, but this time it's more sad than evil. "Remember, you did this, not me."


	10. Chapter 10: Trouble In Paradise

_Just wanted to say I love writing Elijah's POV :) It's like the perfect contrast to the serious attitudes of Dawn and Gorman. Also, be prepared for more Dawn than you saw in the show, because towards the end I kind of started to like her character...you've been warned... ;) _

_ALEX'S POV _

I still can't believe that they left.

Not Rick and them, I know they'll be back soon enough, but Kat and Maggie. We'd been together for weeks, suffering cannibals and hordes of walkers and tons of other unsavory obstacles, and now they're just gone. Off to Washington D.C to go and "save the world". Find the cure to end the reanimation of the dead, leaving the rest of us behind. We're supposed to follow them in a couple days, when Bob is healed up and Daryl and Carol come back with Caroline with medicine. I understand that if they didn't volunteer, Abraham would've left with his group and probably would have ended up as human sushi, but it still hurts that they had to leave today. Kat didn't even say _goodbye_.

It feels so empty at the church with most of us gone. Michonne and Carl are attempting to teach Ashley and Connor how to wield axes, but it's not going too hot. Even though Ashley is the same age as me and Connor is almost 13, they never really grasped the whole "end of the world" thing. Neither of them have ever killed any walkers, because somebody else has always been there to do it for them. But Michonne and Carl have nothing else to do. I watch them from a distance. Bob is sleeping a couple rows ahead of me, snoring quite loudly. I sit in the back row of pews, nearest to the doors, alone with my thoughts. Just how I want to be.

God, I wish Elijah was here right now. Maggie said that Beth and him were taken by the Termites, but we didn't find them when we broke out. Maggie thinks they're dead, I refuse to believe that though. Even if the Termites had them, the Termites don't exist anymore. They must have escaped. Most likely, they're probably roaming the woods somewhere, surviving on their own, looking for us. I need to find them.

By the time Rick and Sasha's group comes back, loaded with shopping carts and bags heavy with supplies, I've already formulated my pitch. Sasha checks up on Bob first, wrapping a thick hunting jacket over him as a blanket. They're just too cute together.

"Looks like somebody went shopping." I remark as Sasha sits down next to me, holding a big backpack in her hands. "What'd you get for me, _Sasha Clause_?" She smiles, unzipping the backpack loudly. Inside, I see several pairs of jeans. I never used to like getting clothes as presents, but not I'm ecstatic.

"Figured you'd need some new clothes. I don't think cargo shorts are in style much anymore, bud." I can't help but smiles estactly. She pulls out at least 4 pairs of black jeans, a pair of shoes, and a Wisconsin Badgers hoodie.

"Wisconsin? Where'd you find that?" Being from northern Indiana, the Wisconsin Badgers used to be bitter enemies.

"We raided a thrift store. The damn thing hadn't been touched in years, but there was this nasty hole in the floor with a bunch of nasty walkers in nasty water. Sadly, we had to go for a little swim. All the food was down there." She shivers, and I notice that her hair is still wet. Yuck.

"You pick up some perfume?" As soon as I say it, she looks offended. "I'm kidding, i'm kidding." I reassure her, smiling like an idiot.

I put the Wisconsin hoodie on, swallowing my pride, and then the flannel jacket over that. It must look horrible, cherry red under a faded blue and white checkered pattern, but to be honest, who the hell cares? I put a pair of jeans on over my cargo shorts, because i'm not going to strip in front of Sasha. That would just be awkward.

"I can't thank you enough, Sasha. You're a life saver."

She smiles nonchalantly. "I know."

"Hey, uh, I need to ask you something though." Her smile vanishes, and she looks concerned.

"Sure, what's going on?"

Suddenly, my mouth is dry. "Ah, I was wondering if we could go looking for Beth and Elijah." Before Sasha can say anything back, though, I continue rambling. "I just can't sit here knowing they could be out there somewhere, alone and starving or dead. I just need closure." If she says no, I don't know what i'll do. I can't really pout, because she just came back with all of this stuff for me. Maybe I could ask somebody else? In my head, my little speech sounded a lot better.

"Okay, we'll take a car. I'll go tell Rick, but we can only be gone for a couple hours." Her response is completely unexpected.

"Oh my god, really?"

"Really." I can't help but lock Sasha in a hug, but it's short lived. Bob clears his throat. "Hey hey hey, take it easy there, man." He's all smiles though, and we all laugh just a little bit. Sasha goes and talks to Rick. Even though I can't tell what's being said, Rick looks uncomfortable. But, Sasha pulls it off. Rick hands her a walkie-talkie and a car key. He hugs her tightly, smushing Judith between them comically. Bob looks at her worryingly, but Sasha talks to him. He looks worried after she leaves him, though.

"Okay, we got a couple hours. We have orders to be back by sunset, though, so we gotta hurry." Sasha grabs a new set of crutches she acquired from her run, and we hop in a red truck i've never seen before. It looks pretty new. There's only a couple cracks in the windshield, and hardly any mud stains on the front bumper.

"Daryl found a couple vehicles yesterday, so we don't have to walk."

"Good, because I can't walk that well. But hey, at least I have an excuse to not walk all over the place right now. Bob taught me to find the good out of a bad situation."

"Oh god, now i'll have both of you playing that game." She groans. "Where are we going first?" Now that she mentions it, I have no clue where Elijah and Beth might be. They could be anywhere, I suppose.

"How about the Terminus compound?" Sasha nods, and we're off.

_KAT'S POV_

I wake up on the ceiling of the church bus.

My whole body dully throbs in pain, but nothing feels broken. _Well, besides my aching heart_, but that's beside the point. Smoke fills the air, and I hear sloppy thuds against the sides of the van. More fucking walkers. Of course, nothing can ever go right with this damn cursed group of people. We can't just have a nice bus ride up to Washington, the damn van has to flip over and more walkers come to make a snack out of us. Typical day.

"Eugene!" Abraham calls out, dazed. Everyone else is hazily working their way up to their feet, but Eugene is still laying down. He's holding his ankle protectively, wincing in pain. Groggily, I army crawl through broken glass over to him, leaving shallow cuts along my arms. That'll sting later. Other than his ankle, Eugene seems fine.

"He's good!" I call out.

"Everyone else?"

"We're good!" Maggie and Tara yell in unison. Abraham makes it to his feet, and rushes over to where Eugene and I are. Together we get him up. Abraham leaves me to support him alone though, because he races for the back door.

"Glenn, Maggie, Rosita, with me. Kat and Tara, you cover Eugene. Come out after we drive the dead ones back!" Rosita and Maggie wobble disoriented to his side, leaning on Glenn for support. They have their guns out and ready to go. Abe grabs onto the roof and kicks at the emergency exit door with both legs until it pops open.

Several walkers are pushed back. One comes around the corner, but it's put down by Glenn's knife. Abe and the others jump out to deal with the walkers while Tara and I watch from inside, Eugene in the middle. He seriously looks like he's about to throw up. Who knows how he lasted this long if he still gets queasy at a couple walkers.

"Okay, let's go!" I tell Tara, and we duck through the opening, hauling Eugene out once we're through. Tara hands him her knife, and he scuffs. "I'll be useless with this, you know that right?" He stutters. All around us, the rest of the group is in beast mode, killing walkers left and right. Bashing and slashing with guns and knives.

Tara puts her hand on his shoulder. "Listen, I know this all sucks and it's really scary, but it's time to be brave." A walker approaches her from behind, but I swipe at its face with my hatchet. Now blind, it rebounds and heads for me. But that ends when the ugly thing's head is rolling on the cement. I don't bother to kill the head, I just kick it into the forest.

Two more walkers come up on my side. Time to take out some aggression. I throw my hatchet at the first walker, an elderly woman with a few strands of moldy grey hair on her head, the remnants of a pearl necklace hanging loosely from her neck. The hatchet embeds itself deep in her skull, killing her. Before I can pull it out, though, the second walker comes up from behind. I feel fleshy hands grab at my hair, but suddenly they disappear.

Once I finally rip my hatchet free, I see _Eugene_ stabbed the damn thing in the back. He's steering it in circles cluelessly, but once he sees i'm up, he steers the walker towards me. I plant my hatchet deep in the walker's temple. Black blood oozes out when I pull it free, and the walker falls.

Everyone else has finished assassinating the other walkers, and the coast looks clear either way. Clear roads for miles. I think I can make out a small town on a hill far in the distance. The bus is on fire now, which isn't a good thing, because that means we don't have a ride. _And I hate walking._

The sun hangs low in the sky when we finally reach the small town on the hill. My feet are sore, and everybody is complaining. Even Abraham, the hardened, trained military soldier. At least we don't have to carry much, because most of our stuff was lost in the bus fire. Maggie lent me a set of clothes; One of her spare Wonder Woman tank tops and a pair of yoga pants. She's switched into jeans and has put on her blue sweatshirt. I resolve to find a long sleeve shirt or a jacket at least at the next available opportunity.

The town looks more like a village. Standing on the edge of town, I can see where all the local businesses fade away to more road. It reminds me of a old western town almost. Abraham selects a library to hole up in. It's been untouched, but we still arrange all of the book shelves like a barricade. We leave a small gap on one side, facing the windows so we can see any possible danger from afar.

I'm on watch first, but there really isn't anything to watch for. I end up browsing the book shelves, selecting a couple short books to read, leaning against the shelves inside our little is probably the best camp i've had in months. Maybe this group isn't all bad luck and death after all.

Of course, I'm proven wrong when I hear a gun click in front of me, and I freeze.

"Don't move, honey, and nobody gets hurt."


	11. Chapter 11: Sometimes, Life Just Sucks

_Sorry for the small delay, i've been busy. ~TheChuckles_

_KAT'S POV _

"You people shoulda checked the second floor. Thought you'd be smarter than that." The scraggly man says, holding a shotgun inches from my face. He's looks filthy. His hair and beard are both long and greasy brown, the same color as his chest hair. He's only wearing an old pair of blue jeans, no shoes, no shirt. His companion looks similar. I'd guess they're brothers. But honestly, I don't give a flying fuck if they're related or not. These hillbilly bastards are going down. _Hard_.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." The other man says, firing his shotgun into a bookshelf, sending chunks of paper flying everywhere. The loud shot echoes in the building, leaving my ears ringing. Everybody in the enclosure wakes up with a start. They all tense up when they see what's going on. I feel so ashamed.

"What the fuck do you want?" Rosita asks groggily, rubbing her eyes. Her nonchalance is surprising.

The hillbilly pointing his shotgun at me smiles. "Everything."

"Bullshit. We have a man who knows the cure, and we need to get him to Washington D.C. We can offer you spots on our team." Abraham says bluntly. We exchange a look, and he nods ever so slightly. Distract them he says.

"Psh yaw right. Don't need no damn cure. Everythang's fine just the way it is." The second hillbilly says, snorting. "Matter 'o fact, we don't want no cure. Everythang going back to normal would _suck_."

"Yaw, what he said. How 'bout this, which one of ya'll knows this here 'cure'? I'd love to introduce you to Bessy." The first hillbilly nods his shotgun up and down, indicating that Bessy is his gun. Are you kidding me?

"It's me! I know the cure." I say. Hopefully Abraham is ready. Glenn and Maggie are already reaching for their guns underneath their blankets. The second hillbilly, the one aiming at everybody else, turns to look at me.

" 's a shame. You're cute." He pumps his shotgun, and fires. But all he hits is bookshelf. I kick his friend in the knee, dodging to my left, bringing him down in front of me face first. He drops Bessy; Rosita kicks her across the floor, far away from his reach. The hillbilly, now angry, fires at me again. His misses, and I hear a window shatter.

The first hillbilly recovers. He looks at me with wild eyes, punching me in the temple. His hands wrap around my throat, and squeeze like a vise. His thumbs push into the underside of my neck. I reach for his face, but it's just out of my reach. Instead, I reach for anything to throw, but he roughly slides me away from the nearest bookshelf. My legs are pinned down, and I can't breathe. Gunshots go off in the background, but all I can really focus on is the rage filled face watching me suffocate to death. The hillbilly smiles cruelly, revealing several missing teeth, yellow and chipped. My vision starts to blur...

"You alive?"

A blinding light is shining in my eyes, and I blink several times. My heads hurts horribly, and my throat feels raw and chafed. Every breath hurts. The light goes away, and Abraham's face comes into focus, the other 5 looking on in the background.

"Oh, thank god." Someone, I think Maggie says, falling to my side. Brown hair, blue sweater, yeah it's Maggie. Everyone else looks relieved. Abraham stands up and walks out of my blurry line of sight.

"Wh-" I try to say, but a spike of pain stabs my throat. Maggie shushes me. "Don't try to talk, it'll hurt your throat. Those guys are dead, don't worry. You've been out a couple of hours. We're going on the move soon." All I can do is nod in response. Maggie helps me stand up, and although I have to lean on bookshelves for support, i'm up. Early morning light shines in through the big windows. A light breeze blows in from the shattered window, and i'm chilled.

"You cold?" Glenn asks as he packs up. I nod. He slips off his hunting jacket, and holds it out. "Here." I accept his offer graciously, and once I have his jacket on the chills go away. But he doesn't have a jacket anymore. I shoot him a questionable look. He just shrugs.

"I'll find another one somewhere else, and besides, you need it more." He leaves to go finish packing.

I don't have anything to pack up, so I spend my time filling a random backpack with books to read later. I see Bessy laying on the floor near the window, and I can't help but stuff her inside my backpack too. Now I have two shotguns. _Maybe they'll be friends or something. _Abraham whistles, and we all leave through the front door.

Thankfully, no walkers heard our scuffle last night, so we can walk unhidden down the street. Most of the businesses look picked over, but Glenn spots a cafe with boarded windows. "_Sweet Brown's_" the sign reads in a fancy font. It takes a few minutes to break in, but once we do, we're greeted with a completely pristine restaurant. Besides the dust, everything is spotless and relatively clean. The kitchen is stocked with all kinds of sea food and vegetables. The sea food is spoiled, however, which is a real bummer.

Since we don't have electricity, Rosita and Abraham start a fire in the backroom, using chairs as firewood and propping up a thin metal sheet as a grill. We have grilled veggies for breakfast, which beats canned garbage any day. Glenn, Maggie and Tara tell ridiculous stories, Abraham, Rosita and Eugene laugh, but I remain silent. Why hasn't Abraham chewed me out yet? I let everybody down. People could have died. Eugene could have died, and the whole mission would have been compromised. How could I have been so stupid?

Never again.

_SASHA'S POV, The day Abraham's group leaves_

"We can't go in there, Alex. Too many walkers." I say as I get back into the truck, out of breath. I parked near the front gate of Terminus, leaving Alex alone locked in the truck while I scouted out the compound. I didn't have much time, however, because the walkers still lingering there picked up on my scent. I was forced to leave.

"Damn it." He says, rubbing his palms into his temple, unintentionally messing up his brown hair. "I don't know where else they could go besides the woods."

"Well, at least we know they're not here." I say grimly, starting up the truck just as the first walkers become visible in the distance. I turn the truck around and take off before they can even get close, though. "Where to next, boss?"

Alex looks at me uncertainly. "Could we just drive along some roads around here? Maybe they'll see us or something."

"Okay."

I feel bad for Alex. He finds one of the only people he knew before the apocalypse alive, and then he disappears again. Poof. Gone. It must be a horrible feeling. I know that when I was separated from Tyreese for 3 weeks I almost couldn't handle it. Maggie was separated from Glenn and she nearly went _insane_ trying to find him.

For 2 more hours we drive around the area near Terminus, stopping every couple of minutes to peer into the forest for signs of Elijah or Beth. We find nothing, and as the sun starts to set, we have to return to the church empty handed. Alex has fallen silent, staring out the window solemnly.

"You know, I bet they're still alive. Out there somewhere, surviving."

Alex turns to look at me, a hopeless look etched on his face. "I want to believe that, Sasha. Really, I do. But you and I both know how dangerous it is out there. Elijah and Beth vs hordes of walkers and horrible groups of people, _yeah_, I don't like their chances."

"We made it. We lost the Prison, sure, but most of us found each other again, against all odds. What's to say we won't find Eli and Beth again? If not today or tomorrow, perhaps sometime down the road we'll run into them again." Even I have a hard time believing what I just said. I don't gamble, I don't believe in luck or magic. I do the math, and it sure as hell looks like we'll never see them again.

"But we had other people. Maggie and Bob, Kat..._Jude_..._Isaac_..." He looks out the window again, but I can hear sniffles. I don't push the subject further. Let Alex mourn, because in this world we don't have the privilege to do that much anymore.

Alex gets out of the truck and hobbles into the church by himself, before I can offer to help him. I'll have to talk to him later. Rick leans against the church, near the doors. He gives Alex an inquisitive look, before looking to me.

"Are they dead?" He asks in a gruff whisper.

"No, we didn't find anything. Drove around Terminus for hours. If they're alive, they must be deep in the forest or a long way away from here." Rick simply nods, and we walk inside together. Alex enters one of the backrooms, slamming the door loudly. Connor and Ashley look at each other worriedly, but shrug it off and continue to play checkers. Duel axes lay on either side of them, which strikes me as weird.

Michonne and Carl come up to us together. "Everything okay?" Michonne asks, the bandage on her broken nose leaving her voice sounding nasally.

"We didn't find them. He's just upset." I say, making eye contact with Bob in the distance. He smiles one of his Bob smiles, but even _that_ can't make me feel better.

"Carl, you should go talk to him. He'll need a shoulder to cry on." Rick says. Carl nods, and heads into the room. Tyreese comes up to us, exiting the other backroom with Judith in his arms. "Glad you're back." He says, wrapping me in a bear hug. He's smiling, but I can't put one on my face.

"Me too." I mutter, solemnly, trying my best attempt at a half smile.

"Michonne, can you gather everybody together in about 20 minutes? Sasha and I will make some dinner." Michonne nods, and heads off in Bob's direction. Rick and I go to the other side of the church, where we bicker playfully about what canned food to cook for supper as if the group isn't split up and all of them could be dead.

_CAROLINE'S POV _

"Find anything?"

"Nope. Damn place was picked clean months ago." Daryl says angrily as he slumps into his seat, slamming the driver's side door fitfully. I hear Carol sigh. In the darkness of night, I can hardly see them, although they sit inches in front of me. Only if the inside lights still worked on this car...

"Damn it. Looks like we won't find anything here. Second town we've checked, and the closest one is thirty miles to the south." She glances at me, lying on the backseat, breathing labored breaths. My wound has gotten worse. Every breath I take, a dull stab of pain hits me in my abdomen.

"Well, if we go North fifteen miles we'll get to the suburbs, might be some stuff there." Daryl suggests. I hear the map crinkle.

"I don't know, Daryl. That's awfully close to Atlanta. The last time we were there..."

"Yeah, I know. It was bad, but do we have much of a choice?" He lowers his voice down to a whisper. "She won't make it that much longer. It's all or nothing, Carol. We go to Atlanta, or she dies. We just gotta make that choice, right here, right now." _I can hear you, you know_, I want to say, but it would hurt too much._ You're hot as hell, Daryl, but please be a little more discreet when talking about my oncoming death, please_.

Silence ensues for what feels like eternity, but finally, Carol speaks again. "Alright. We head for Atlanta, but if we run into any trouble, we have to get the hell out of there. Do you have the walkie-talkie?"

"Yeah" Dary replies.

"Good. Tomorrow morning, we radio in to Rick, tell him what's going on. That way, if we don't make it out of there, or if we go silent, he'll know where to look."

"Okay. Let's head to the big city, then." Daryl starts the car, and we're off to Atlanta. _To my salvation, or imminent death._

_ELIJAH'S POV, present time_

Beth's black eye infuriates me everytime I stare at it. Which is pretty often, considering Dawn _the Almighty Bitch_ has put us on laundry duty together. The stark white lights make it look that much worse. Her swollen and purple eye should belong outside in the pitch black night, not on her beautiful, innocent face.

"You don't have to apologize again, Eli. She'll get hers." Beth says, looking up at me as she folds an officer's uniform.

"It just looks so..._bad_, Beth. I can't describe how sorry I am, really."

She smiles, which strikes me as odd. But, hey, she looks sweeter when she smiles. At least when one of her eyes isn't bruised and swollen. Still, her smile is infectious, though, because I can't help but smile back.

"Noah says he'll have everything ready by tomorrow morning." Beth whispers, watching the guard standing outside the door in her peripheral vision.

"I hope so, I can't wait to get the holy fuck out of here, hook up with Maggie, and kill every last one of those officers." Beth doesn't reply, instead returning to folding clothes. I do as well, and for several minutes we work in silence. Then, Beth starts to hum a song I don't recognize. It sounds amazing,_ beautiful yet sad, like her_, I think glumly. She sees me staring, and stops, a cute little blush appearing on her cheeks. Adorable.

"Don't stop, please, that was beautiful." _Just like you_, I want to add.

"It's _Parting Glass_, in case you were wondering. My Dad used to just _love _that song. Especially when Maggie and I sang it together..." She falls silent, her smile disappearing without a trace. I can't stand her sad face, so I drop the green scrubs I was folding and wrap her in a hug, something I wish I could do more often. Perhaps the only good thing about this place is that they allow us to shower everyday, because Beth's hair smells like green apples and it's just wonderful.

"Back to work in there." The guard yells, and we both step away from each other, startled. Reluctantly, we go back to work. Beth starts to hum _Parting Glass_ again.

Tomorrow morning couldn't possibly come faster.


	12. Chapter 12: The Big City

_ELIJAH'S POV _

"Hurry! Hurry! We gotta move!" Noah says frantically as he ties the rope of bedsheets to the wall. In front of us, an empty void sits where an elevator should be. It's at least a five story drop into darkness, and the smell coming from it is just god awful.

"I'll go first." I say reluctantly, staring down the elevator shaft in disgust. Noah ties the other end of the makeshift rope around my waist, securing it tightly so I don't fall to my death. I drop to my hands and knees, and crawl into the heart of darkness. My foot comes in contact with a ladder rung built into the side of the shaft. Refusing to look down, I begin the long decent down to the bottom, scared out of my freaking mind. One slip, and I fall all the way down. Even with the bedsheet rope tied around my waist, I would at least crack a couple ribs.

I yawn loudly. After Beth and I finished folding clothes, we got about 5 or so hours of sleep before Noah woke us up. Honestly, i'm surprised this place doesn't have guards out at night. Oh well, better for us. Even though Beth and Noah insist we don't ever come back to this place, I'm already planning my return. Dawn will have to die first. I need to see the shocked expression on her face before I shoot her. Punching Beth in the face, right in front of me. _Payback, like Dawn, is a huge bitch._

I reach the bottom relatively quickly. I untie the rope, and pull down on it twice, signalling Beth and Noah to climb down. Only the edges remain at the bottom level where I stand. The rest of the floor is a pit filled with dead walkers, the source of the horrible smell. I have to cover my nose to prevent puking up my meager supper, it's that nasty. Looks like this is where they throw all of the dead patients. How sick.

Beth is down next, gagging at the extent of rotted corpses below us. "Oh my god, that's so nasty!" She coughs.

"Tell me about it. It's almost as bad as Gorman's breath."

Beth stifles a laugh. "Almost." I smile broadly, and she smiles back. The moment is ruined by Noah falling into the pit, screaming all the way.

"Noah!" Beth screams, and dives down into the pit after him. It's only a couple feet down, but it's so dark I can't even see them

"You've got to be kidding me." I say to myself.

"I think I twisted my ankle." Noah yelps in pain.

"_Oh, fuck it_." I say, and jump feet first into the pit. I land on a mushy pile of dead people, and I know as soon as we leave, I'm completely ditching these shoes. Blackish walker mush runs along my legs, which means the pants have to go as well.

Noah and Beth are at the edge of the pile, Noah using Beth for support. His brown skin is stained with walker blood, along with his green hospital scrubs. His ankle is twisted at an uncomfortable angle, although it doesn't look like it's broken. I wouldn't really know though, since i'm not a doctor. Maggie would know.

I slide down the disgusting pile of bodies to aid them. Together, we stumble our way through the lower level, dodging the few walkers that actually are still alive down here. After what seems like forever, we find the exit. White hot light comes streaming in, but we persist through the door regardless. We're in the front parking lot of the hospital, I realize. Old military style tents line the sides, scattered walkers in the middle. I see a gap in the fences 30 feet ahead of us, perhaps.

"There! Get to that gap!" I say, and we begin to hobble down the parking lot. The few walkers try to grab us, but Beth and I kick them down. They don't get up. Instead, they start crawling after us, they're stomachs and chests getting scraped right off by the hot concrete. The wind pushes my hair in my eyes, leaving my vision a blur of blonde strands and dull gray.

I trip over something, a dead body I think, and crash onto the ground. Beth tries to turn around to help me up, but I hear gunshots coming from behind us. Oh shit, they already know. But how?

"Go! I'll be right behind you!" I shout. Beth and Noah run as best they can for the fence. I feel a rough pair of hands force my own behind my back, cold steel locking them in place. Beth and Noah reach the fence, and I see Beth push Noah through. He puts on a burst of speed, and disappears around the corner. Beth, on the other hand, isn't as lucky. Dawn jump tackles her into the fence, wrapping her in a fierce bear hug from behind.

Beth kicks and screams as Dawn rolls her onto her stomach, placing a set of handcuffs on her. She roughly pulls Beth up, and brings her over to where another officer has me. She simply frowns at us, nodding her head in amazement. When she speaks, her voice is as cold as the _steel handcuffs_ locked around my wrists.

"What will I ever do with the two of you?"

_CAROLINE'S POV _

"You see that car with the white cross? Isn't that the car Maggie said took Beth?" Daryl asks Carol, referencing a car in the distance I can't see.

"Yeah, I think Maggie said something about that...Oh my god, Daryl, we have to follow them!" Daryl doesn't need to be told twice, because the car accelerates greatly. I almost flip over onto the car floor, but Carol saves me just in time. Another dull wave of pain washes over my abdomen, reminding me of my wound. Earlier, when there was still some light, I lifted up my shirt to check my wound. Although Maggie sewed it up decently, the area around was all red and puffy.

"Oh no, the car is heading into Atlanta." Carol comments.

"Don't worry, I won't lose 'im." Daryl says gruffly. A crushing silence falls for what seems like hours, but must only be a couple of minutes. From the darkness outside the window, I see faint outlines of skyscrapers, signalling we've entered Atlanta. It's a shame we didn't come in from the other side of town, because that was where I used to teach. 10th Grade Ancient World History.

"Dammit, we're almost out of gas." Daryl mutters, followed by the car slowly coming to a halt.

"I know a place, not far from here. We can get there, hole up there for a couple hours." Carol says. The mere thought of moving in my condition sends a shiver up my spine, but I know we'll have to move eventually. Daryl and Carol get out of the car and help me to my feet, my stomach screaming in pain. I wince, causing Daryl to scoop me up in his arms. _How dreamy,_ I think. _Only if it were under different circumstances_.

The streets are littered with rusted cars and dead bodies, more than i've seen in a long time. We pass a tank that looks to be in decent condition. Carol leads us up the street, and into an alley. I hear walker growls, but Carol handles them with her knife. She kicks open a door, and we spill into yet another dark place.

"Just up these stairs." Carol huffs. Daryl climbs up what seems like an endless flight of stairs before we crash into another door. Carol lights a candle, putting the room in better light. A bunk bed dominates the room. A small window brings in erie moonlight. Otherwise, the room is pretty barren.

"What is this place?" Daryl asks, setting me down on the top bunk. It's comfortable enough. Better than the carseat at least.

"Does it matter?" Carol asks defensively. "We'll stay here for the night, and then find medical supplies for Caroline. She's our top priority. Once we get her up and running, we find Beth. Okay, _Pookie_?"

"Sure." Daryl replies ominously, plopping down on the lower bunk bed. Carol joins him a second later, and shortly after I hear snoring. I stare at the ceiling, not sleepy at all. But, eventually, sleep wins out, because the next thing I know, dim morning light is filtering in through the window.

"Daryl? Carol?" Nobody replies. I try to sit up, but my abdomen hurts too bad. I hear a crinkle when I rest my head on my pillow. Underneath, I find a note:

_Went looking for meds. Be back soon. _

_Love, Carol and Pookie 3 _

"Pookie..." Carol's nickname for Daryl is quite cute, I have to admit. But, they left me alone here? I understand why, I guess. It's dangerous in the city when you're by yourself, on the streets, dodging walkers and all. But still, anything could happen back here as well. What if another group just stumbles into me? I'm defenseless.

I sigh, resolving to chew them out when they return.

When they return, the first thing I see is a huge backpack overflowing with medical stuff. Carol grins wildly. Even Daryl has a smile on his face.

"Let's fix you up, ma'am."

"Dr. Pookie will see you now." Carol says with a mischievous grin, patting Daryl on his shoulder. Daryl lifts me down from the top bunk and lays me on the bottom bunk. He lifts up my shirt, revealing my nasty stomach wound. He grimaces.

"What should I do?" He asks Carol.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Should I just dump some anti-bacterial whatever on it and pray for the best?" He looks hopeless. Carol pushes him out of the way, and he topples onto the ground over-dramatically.

"Now, let's see what we can do..."

I must have blacked out, because when I wake up, I feel insanely better. When I sit up, my stomach doesn't hurt as bad, and I find that I can actually stand without getting nauseous. Satisfied with her work, Carol gives me a hug. After she's done, Daryl wraps me into a playful bearhug that I want to melt into for the rest of my life, but it's only a couple seconds long. When he pulls away, i'm blushing, my face probably the color of my tank top, blood red.

"Now, with that taken care of, let's go find Beth."

_ELIJAH'S POV_

I'm mopping the floor when the police officers burst in through the doors, each wheeling in stretchers. On the first stretcher, I see a old woman, probably in her 50's, with short grey hair and ragged grey clothes. She has bruises on her face and some going down her arms. Either she got in a really bad fight, or a car accident. She's asleep, or maybe in a coma.

The other woman, kicking and screaming in her stretcher, is _Caroline_.

Gorman and another random douche bag officer I don't know the name of are trying to hold her to the stretcher, but she isn't having any of that. She kicks Gorman in the stomach hard. He crumples over. By the time he gets back up, Dawn is there, holding him back. Caroline stops convulsing, waiting for Dawn to speak.

"What's your name?" She asks calmly, putting on her nicer side. Her fake side.

"WHERE AM I?" Caroline screams at her, so loud I have to cover my ears. Dawn doesn't even flinch.

"Sedate her." Dawn tells the other officer calmly. She spins on her heel and heads back into her office, where she's "talking" to Beth. To be honest, I don't know what really is going on in there, but if Beth walks out with more bruises, i'll personally rip Dawn's black heart out and feed it to her.

Caroline locks eyes with me as the needle enters her arm. She opens her mouth to speak, but I quickly put my finger to my lips. She looks at me in confusion for a few seconds, but the sedative kicks in, and she's out cold. If Dawn knew that Caroline and I know each other, she'd use it to her advantage. There is no way Caroline is getting hurt because of my actions. Beth already has dealt with that too much.

Speaking of, Beth comes out of Dawn's office. I don't see any new cuts, but I have to run my hands over her face to make sure. Just to be safe, no hidden motives _whatsoever_.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

Beth snorts. "As okay as I can be in this place, yeah. Dawn tried to talk me into something-" Her voice cut off when she locks eyes on Caroline and the other woman, both now out cold on their stretchers.

"Oh my god, they've found us!" Beth whispers happily.

"You know the other woman?"

"Yeah, that's Carol! Which means everybody else must be somewhere in the city! Maybe they saw us try to escape earlier today, _oh my god_, we're going to be okay!" Beth says, overjoyed. If she's correct, that means that Maggie's group has destroyed Terminus, possibly found Alex and everybody else, and are now closing in on this hellhole. We could be free by this time tomorrow.

_ALEX'S POV_

It's dark out when Daryl returns, with a new companion.

He walks through the doors with a sad awkwardness, a black kid coming in behind him, wearing what looks like hospital scrubs. He looks to be about 18, definitely no older than that. The hospital scrubs make me think he's with another group. Let's be honest, who the hell would want to wear those? _Yuck_.

Rick and Michonne stand up at once.

"Where have you been? You didn't radio back!" Rick scolds Daryl with his scratchy voice.

"Things got _complicated_..."

"Where's Carol and Caroline?" Michonne asks, peering outside to see if they're out there. Daryl hangs his head. It's the new kid that speaks.

"It's a long story."


	13. Chapter 13: A Symphony Of Sorrow

_KAT'S POV_

After an uplifting breakfast, Abraham and Maggie decide we should split up and scavenge for whatever we can. Our list of top priorities include: Means of transport, food, water, guns, and clothes, in that order. We split up into teams. Abraham, Rosita and Eugene go one way, Maggie and Glenn another, leaving Tara and I to search the area around Sweet Brown's.

"Hey, look! I think that's a thrift store!" Tara calls a couple minutes into our search, happily pointing to a faded building across the street. Since I still can't talk, I simply nod. She grabs my arm and drags me into the small shop like a teenage girl going to the mall. A few withered skeletons decorate the floor, otherwise the place looks untouched. Just like Sweet Brown's, and the library. _That's weird_.

At least I can pick out some new clothes. I spot a denim jacket with lots of pockets, and in seconds it replaces Glenn's hunting jacket. I can give it back to him now, so when winter comes he won't be freezing. Tara helps me pick out a couple more items, before we exit the store and continue our search for supplies.

This town is a jackpot.

Our next stop is a sporting goods store. Not one of those huge franchise ones, just a simple mom and pop shop. Unlike the rest of the stores, however, several items are missing off of the shelves. All the guns are gone to no surprise, but I spot a sleek black bow and arrow set that I _need _to try out. Although I never ever in my life used a bow and arrow, _how hard can it be?_

Tara snorts when she sees me aiming at a target across the store. "You look like freaking Katniss Everdeen. Stop it." I giggle, and let the arrow fly. It misses it's mark by a good 5 feet, but it's okay. Tara doubles over, dropping her backpack she's laughing so hard.

"May the odds be ever in your favor." She says between fits of giggles. I find a pad of paper and write _SHUT UP_ on it in big block letters, shoving it in her face playfully. She laughs harder. The moans of the dead stop her laughter though. We turn around to see four walkers emerge from deep in the store. Maybe they were in a backroom or something.

Tara lifts up her gun to shoot them, but I grip her arm before she fires. She looks at me confused, but I hold up my newly acquired weapon.

"The floor is yours, Girl on Fire."

I notch an arrow, aim for the first walker's head, and let loose. To my credit, the arrow actually hits the walker in the shoulder. Two more arrows sink themselves in the walking corpse before he gets to close to fire at. I cut his head off with my hatchet, his head hitting the floor with a disgusting sound. Black blood spews from his neck, but I avoid it. No way my new jacket is getting ruined so quickly.

Instead of attempting to take the other three out with my mad shooting skills, I go old school and use my hatchet. I take out the next two just like I did the first. Heads fall to the floor, decapitated bodies crumple, and blood flies. I launch my hatchet at the last one. The hatchet buries itself deep in the walker's face. Tara claps.

We meet up with the others in front of Sweet Brown's an hour later. Abraham's group shows up on foot, carrying several heavy looking packs. Glenn and Maggie are late, but we can hear them coming from a distance. The firetruck comes into view a few seconds later, taking up most of the street. When they climb out, everybody cheers. At least we have a ride now. Rosita hands me some cough drops as we load the firetruck. By the time we pull out, I can at least hum without any pain.

The overall good mood of the day comes screeching to a halt, however, when the firetruck breaks down on the outskirts of town.

"Son of a dick!" Abraham swears, punching the steering wheel. "Can't we just have one thing go right?" He sounds pissed. We all climb out, Abraham and Glenn heading to inspect the engine. Rosita clears her throat.

"That's not the problem, boys." They look up at her in confusion.

"The intake is clogged." Rosita says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Abraham nods wordlessly, and starts pulling walker guts out of a vent in the side of the truck. Rosita stops him.

"The intake is on the roof."

"How do you even know all of this?" Abe asks.

Rosita shrugs, smiling devilishly. "_Magic_." Abraham disregards her comment, climbing onto the roof to clear the intake. Maggie and Eugene sit at the back of the truck, talking over a book I think. I dig in my backpack, moving Bessy and my other shotgun out of the way to reach for a book when a horrible smell slams into my nose like a truck. I gag.

"What is hell -" Tara asks, stopping in mid sentence to gag at the smell. She covers her nose and mouth. I can hear everybody else gag or whine about the smell. It smells like rotten eggs mixed with dead bodies times infinity. I go to investigate, walking up the road to see where it's coming from. I get to the top of a small hill, and see the most walkers i've ever seen in my life.

There has to be thousands of them. Spread out over miles, a wall of death and destruction and rot heading our way. The mega herd is miles away, but their smell predates them. Abraham, Eugene and the others show up by my side seconds later, staring in awe.

"There is no way we can go through that." Glenn says, ever the captain obvious.

"There's another highway a couple miles back, we can circle back and-" Rosita is cut off by Abraham.

"No. We're not going back."

Glenn looks appalled. "Listen, we're not going back to the church. We're with you, okay?! We need to circle back to the other highway. We can't go through that and you know it."

"Look. They're all spread out. We could ram our way through-"

"Unless the truck breaks down again. We'd get swarmed and die." Maggie interjects.

"We wouldn't go in a straight line. If we zig-zagged and swerved-"

"Abraham. We have to go back." Rosita says flatly. Abraham turns towards her in anger.

"We can't go back! We've dicked around for too long! We got sidetracked from Houston to the middle of fucking Georgia! No more sidetracking, no more detours! We have to go through this, it's the only way!" His face is almost as red as his hair, veins clearly visible along his angry red neck.

"Are you kidding me? We CANNOT go through that and survive!" Tara says, over annunciating the syllables of _cannot_.

"Every direction is a question, don't you understand? We've been running away from danger for too long. One day, we'll run into something we can't weasel our way out of, and we'll have to fight!" Abraham grabs Eugene roughly by the shoulder, and starts for the truck. He's completely out of his mind, I realize. He's going to get us killed. Even though my throat feels immensely better, I don't say anything.

Glenn, Rosita, Maggie and Tara crowd around him, trying to pull Eugene free or slow Abe down. Tara is roughly pushed to the ground. Indistinguishable screaming and yelling takes the place of logical arguments. I stand back as the small mob of my friends continues towards the truck. Rosita slaps Abraham in the face hard, but it doesn't even phase him. He's hellbent on getting in that truck and taking off with Eugene.

Out of the chaos, I can hear one voice over the rest. I don't know who it is at first, but it's saying the same thing over and over again. It all clicks; only one person could be saying what's being said.

"I'M NOT A SCIENTIST! I'M NOT A SCIENTIST!" Eugene squeals repeatedly. Eventually, everyone else grows silent. Abraham lets go of Eugene.

"I'm not a scientist okay! I lied! I don't know how to stop it, I'm not in contact with high ranking officials from Washington, it's all lies! I'm not a scientist!" He looks at everybody around him, now shocked into silence. No, no, no...this can't be happening. He lied?! There's no hope, no cure to this endless hell? I abandoned the rest of the group, the only other people I know in this world for nothing? Isaac died protecting this weasel?! He got his leg cut off and eaten for fucks sake, to what avail? There's no hope. It's all just one big fucking sham.

My feet start moving forward, even though I don't tell them to. By the time I reach the group, i'm madder than I ever have been before.

"You dirty liar! What else have you lied about? Is Eugene even your real name? Huh?!" I scream. My throat burns, but I honestly don't give a fuck. The lying little worm sinks into himself, staring at his boots. If he doesn't even have the decency to answer me...

"But you are a scientist! I've seen the things you can do!" Rosita proclaims in shock.

"I-I was a science teacher. I just know things. And that's all i've lied about, I swear on my mother's grave-" Eugene stutters.

"Why?" Tara asks. Abraham sinks to his knees, not bothering to say anything. I don't blame him.

"Because it's the only thing I have going for me. I'm not attractive, i'm useless with a weapon, and I sure as hell can't survive by myself. My only strength is-is lying."

Rosita decides to guilt him. "Do you know how many people have died protecting you? Samantha, Jimmy, Don, Maisie, Gerald, Donovan, Ben, Jude, _Isaac_..." Hearing his name sends me over the edge. I lunge at Eugene.

"YOU MONSTER!" I claw down the side of his face with my nails. Little lines of blood appear. I grab for my hatchet, but a strong hand stops me. It's Glenn. He scoops me up with ease and leads me away from the lying fucker I was trying to kill.

Eugene wipes his face, looking at Abraham uneasily. "I'm sorry, but I still am smarter than you." Abraham looks up in rage, stands up, and punches Eugene in his lying little face. He falls against the front of the fire truck. Abe gets one more heavy punch in, sending Eugene's head banging into the truck before everybody else pulls him off of the liar. Maggie pulls our her gun and aims it at Abe. In return, he simply walks away, blocked from my view by the truck.

"Calm down!" Glenn says to me calmly, trying his hardest not to lose his shit.

"How can you be so calm, Glenn? HE LIED! There is no cure! We're never getting out of this fucking hell we live in everyday, don't you realize that! How dare that evil little worm give us false hope?! Huh? How dare he let other people die for him? ISAAC DIED FOR HIM! FOR NOTHING!" Hot tears cascade down my face, but I don't care to wipe them away. My throat is in searing pain. I launch into a coughing fit. Every cough makes the pain in my throat worse. Speckles of blood land on my hand.

Glenn lets me go, putting his head in his hands. I see my opening. Instead of making a run for Eugene, I grab my hatchet from my belt. I throw it as hard as I can, but I miss. My strike was supposed to kill Eugene, but my hatchet ends up buried in the fire truck. I reach for my backpack, but I hear a gun click. Glenn's pointing his pistol at me.

"Kat, control yourself!"

"Don't aim that at me!" I screech. Glenn's stance wavers.

"Don't make me." His voice is full of pain. All the fight in me gives out, and I collapse on the grass in tears. Who cares if the massive gathering of walkers tears us all apart? It's not like we're important or anything.

I wipe away some of my tears, my hands brushing against the scar I got from Terminus. I look at the scars on my wrists from the last time I lost Isaac, before I met Alex or any of his people. Before everybody started dying. A time when all hope was lost. I thought that would be the lowest I ever sank. At least then, I had a reason to go on. To find Isaac and my dad and survive. I still had hope of an endgame.

There's literally no point in going on anymore. The only reason I didn't blow my brains out at the church after Isaac died was because I had hope. Hope that Washington would be what Eugene was claiming it was. But that's all went to shit, hasn't it? I should have known. I unzip my backpack, and pull out Bessy. The gun that almost killed me last night. Well, time to finish the job.

I rest the barrel on the soft underside of my neck, and pump the shotgun. Glenn catches onto what i'm doing at the last second and dives to swat Bessy out of my clutches. But he's too late. _I'm coming Isaac_, I think as I pull the trigger...but all I hear is a click. Glenn slaps Bessy out of my grasp. Instead of scolding me, he envelops me in a hug. I feel wetness on my shoulder, and I know he's crying too.


	14. Chapter 14: A Chorus Of Conspiracies

_ALEX'S POV_

"Wait...run it over again. Sorry, but it's just a bit much to take in." Michonne says, staring at Noah with her head resting in her hands. Like the rest of us.

"There's this place, Grady Memorial Hospital, in Atlanta. A bunch of police officers run the place, but Dawn is the woman in charge. They kidnap people in the area and hold us at the hospital as a way to 'pay our debts' because we 'owe them'. It's really stupid. The cops are complete assholes, but Dawn doesn't care. She still thinks the government is coming to save them. She's delusional. Anyways, I tried to escape with two others, Beth and Elijah. Daryl says you guys know them. I got out, but the others got caught."

"So they're still alive? Elijah and Beth?" Hope has manifested itself inside me once again. Earlier tonight, I thought that they were dead and all hope of finding them was lost. Now suddenly, my hopes have been kickstarted by the return of Daryl and Noah. There's a chance I could be reunited with my best friend by this time tomorrow. I'm giddy with joy, practically bouncing up and down in my seat. Only if Maggie was here. She'd be so excited to find out her sister is still alive.

Noah turns his gaze to me. "Yeah probably. I mean, I don't think Dawn would kill two of her wards. She values them too much." If I could stand up by myself, I would run over and hug the hell out of Noah. I don't though, because it would take forever and i'd probably hurt myself in the attempt. _Later_, I decide. When it's just the two of us.

"Carol, Caroline and I were in the city looking for meds for Caroline's wound. We followed a car that looked like the one Maggie thought was from Terminus. This morning, Carol and I found some medical stuff and fixed Caroline up. We were scouting out the hospital when one of their cars ran into the both of them. I would have went after them, but Noah stopped me. Told me about that place. And now we're here."

Rick nods. "Sounds good. We leave at first light. Daryl, Noah, Sasha, Tyreese and myself. The rest of you, make this place more secure. We don't want any more surprises while we're gone." Rick looks at Father Gabriel in a sideways glance. To be fair though, this is _his_ church.

"Rick, wait." Michonne pulls him off to the side as everyone else disperses. I would be to, but you know, bad ankle and everything.

"What's up?" Hearing Rick say 'what's up' as casually as he does when i've heard him say much more dangerous and threatening things is a little _unnerving_.

"I want in."

"Michonne, listen-"

"No, Rick, _you_ listen. I've been sidelined since Terminus. You know i'm a valuable asset, why do you leave me behind all the time? I can defend myself, and i've known you for months now. Don't you trust me?" I guess Michonne makes a point. She pulls at the gauze around her nose stubbornly.

"Michonne, there's a reason I leave you behind to protect my kids...you're one of the few people here I _actually_ trust."_ Aww, how sweet_, I think. But then it dawns on me how paranoid Rick is. I didn't know he trusted so few people. Daryl and Michonne for sure. Probably Sasha and Tyreese. If Maggie, Glenn and Carol were here, he'd trust them too I think. I guess when you've been double crossed and betrayed as much as Rick has though, one deserves the right to be frugal in who they trust.

"Rick, I didn't know you found a kid on crutches so threatening." I say with a sneer. Both him and Michonne look at me alarmed for a second. Probably because they didn't know I was sitting right next to where they're standing. The tension is washed away a split second after it started, however, when Rick ruffles my hair with a smile.

"Oh, don't worry Alex, I have to keep a special watch on you. The quiet ones are always the most dangerous." He says with a wink, but I feel like his words hold a deeper meaning.

"Is that really necessary?" Father Gabriel asks with a whine as Daryl takes the pipes off of the church organ. He stands on the row of keys, making them play hideous notes whenever he steps on them. Daryl definitely wasn't a musician before the apocalypse.

"Yup." Daryl replies, not bothering to look at Gabriel. He hands a pipe to Tyreese, who takes it outside to plant it in the ground outside the door. They're creating a barrier around the door, similar to the one we had by the gate at the Prison. The constant beating of hammers on nails can be heard everywhere. Rick, Michonne, Carl and everybody else except Bob and I are hammering boards of wood to the windows or working on the barrier outside. When Rick says at first light, he means it. The sun isn't even halfway over the horizon yet. I'm pretty sure Judith, Connor and Ashley are the only ones that got any sleep.

"Are you gonna take the cross as well?" Gabriel asks to nobody in particular, disgust apparent in his voice.

"If we need it." Daryl replies coolly, and I can't help but grin. Gabriel groans, and retreats into one of the backrooms. Poor guy.

"Why oh why does my girlfriend have to go on every single dangerous, life threatening mission that presents itself?" Bob asks, holding his head in his hands. His leg injury is pretty much cleared up at this point, but his personal physician Sasha made him sit out today. How cute. Sadly for me, I still have at least a couple days before I can walk unassisted by crutches.

"Ew. _Romance_." I say with a scrunched up face. Bob scuffs loudly.

"No, it's not even that. It's just a couple kisses here and there, and then she's off on some new suicide mission."

"Well, I guess your struggle is real, Bob."

He sighs. "You don't even know."

"Like I said: Ew. Romance." I smirk, and he smiles back.

"What are you two bozos talking about?" Sasha interrupts, looking down at us with a 2x4 in her hands. She's so quiet, almost like she materialized out of freaking thin air. Bob puts his hand over his mouth, shielding it from view of Sasha. "Quick, before she sucks out your soul!" He says in a dramatized whisper. Sasha's genuinely looks offended. She smacks him on the shoulder with the wooden beam.

"Hey hey! Don't hurt me, i'm a cripple!" Bob screeches. Sasha just rolls her eyes.

"I was coming over to say bye, too the both of you. I'll see you both soon." She hugs me, but kisses Bob on the lips, long and passionately. I clear my throat loudly, but they still don't break it off._ What will I ever do with these two?_, I think whimsically.

"Breathe, you two." Sasha breaks out laughing, and finally pulls away from Bob.

"Bye." Sasha says, out of breath. She exits the church confidently. Bob is still recovering. I have to remind him to close his mouth. Seconds later I hear the delivery truck Daryl and Noah drove back in start up.

Michonne slides a broken up bench against the double door entrance, and we're officially tucked in and ready to wait for them to return. With Beth and my best friend, hopefully.

_ELIJAH'S POV _

The quiet Beep beep beep of the machines is the only sound in the room. Carol lays on the hospital bed, unconscious, while Caroline and I watch. Neither of us are supposed to be here, but I like pissing Dawn off, even with the consequences.

"She saved my life." Caroline comments quietly, taking Carol's limp hand into her own.

"Really? How?" I ask.

"I got shot in the stomach at Terminus a couple days ago..." She starts, but I can't help but stop her.

"Wait, this goes back to Terminus? What the hell has been going on since Beth and I were taken?"

Caroline takes a deep breath. "After you two were abducted, Maggie was sure that the Terminus people had taken you captive. So, we were marching up to the gates when a couple of Maggie's friends stopped us. Isaac and Tyreese. They were already infiltrating Terminus, trying to find and rescue the rest of the group. We faked our way into Terminus, and when night fell, we raised hell."

"Like the Greeks with the Trojan Horse." I say, fully aware that she used to be a history teacher. Caroline smiles broadly.

"Yes, exactly like that. We found Rick, Daryl, your friend Alex, Carol and a bunch of other people. We were escaping over the fence when I was shot in the stomach. The next two days are pretty hazy, but we ended up at a church. The rest of the Termites were hunting us down. They were cannibals. Isaac died. The Termites all died though. Then, yesterday morning, Carol here and Daryl took me with them on a run for meds. We ran into a car like the one that took you guys, and we came into the city. They found some medicine for me, so now i'm all better." She winks, holding her stomach in fake pain.

"We ran into a guy named Noah, said he knew you guys. We were scoping out this place when one of those cars hit Carol and I. And now we're stuck here."

"Well, I don't want to sound too much like a dick when I say this, but i'm happy you're here." I say, not trying to be a smartass like usual. The prospect of possible rescue has me in high spirits. I can't wait to see Alex again. We really need to catch up.

"I'm not." Caroline says darkly, but she breaks out laughing a second later. The good mood is ruined, as always, when Dawn walks into the room. She's wearing her favorite scowl. Thankfully, she's also wearing clothes. Same old police outfit, complete with generic hat that has POLICE written in bold white letters.

"You two aren't supposed to be in here." She says matter-of-factly.

"We know." I reply, smiling widely. "We were on our break."

"You aren't allowed any breaks."

"Yes, we are, actually. Workers rights and all."

Dawn sighs, leaning on the door frame. "I'm not stupid. I know that you all know each other. You two, the woman there, and Beth. For some reason, you've all ended up here, and just because you know each other, you think you can rebel against the system. You're wrong. It's people like you that could tear this place apart. Elijah, come with me. Caroline, go see Dr. Edwards, he has some tasks for you." Dawn walks out of the room, and I guess I have no choice but to follow her.

"See ya later." I say to Caroline as I leave. She waves goodbye silently, heading down the other side of the hallway. Dawn walks at a face pace. I have to jog to catch up to her. We walk in an awkward silence until we end up at our destination: The hallway where the empty elevator shaft is. Beth is already waiting there. A set of double doors cuts off this part of the hallway from the rest of the facility, so we have some privacy.

"Is this the part where we all get naked?" I ask with mild curiosity, wiggling my eyebrows at Dawn suggestively. I slide down the wall until i'm sitting on the floor.

"You know, sometimes you're too much of a smartass for your own good." Dawn says, obviously annoyed.

"Oh don't worry, I know."

"What are we doing here, anyways? Did we do something wrong?" Beth asks too innocently.

"Yes, you've both done so many things wrong, but yet I still allow you to stay here. Eat my food, live under my roof. You should be thankful." She pauses, "But that's not why I've arranged this meeting."

"You see, because I've hardly punished the both of you for your crimes, and have allowed Noah to escape, the other officers are starting to question my leadership. I was hoping that you two could keep an eye on some of them, maybe tell me if you overhear anything suspicious?" _Well, that was a genuine surprise_. I was expecting Dawn to tell us to get our act together, throw in some berating and some threats.

"Why would we help you? You keep us here against our will, withhold our personal items, and you let the other officers have their way with the other people." It almost feels bad to antagonize Dawn when she's asking us for help. _Almost_.

"Because I don't necessarily trust anybody else at this point. And, even if you two ran out of here screaming what I just said, I could easily deny it and punish you." Dawn says with a sad smile.

"What would you do if any of the other officers were caught...conspiring to take you out?" Beth asks.

"Kill them." Typical Dawn.

The double doors close, and I realize that Gorman has been listening to this whole conversation. Sneaky bastard must've followed us in here. Dawn whips around to see him staring at her, a twisted smile on his childish face.

"Oh Dawn, I really wish you didn't just say that." Gorman advances, but comes to a halt when Dawn pulls out her gun, aiming it at his head. "It doesn't have to be like this, Gorman."

"Oh, but it does. You see, Dawn, none of the other officers like you. I think you already know that though. The only reason you've lasted this long is because some of us actually respect you." Gorman says with a sneer, his own pistol know drawn and aimed at Dawn.

"Without respect, one cannot truly be a leader." Dawn says, probably quoting some movie.

"A house divided against itself cannot stand." I say, just because I can. Neither Dawn nor Gorman dare to glance at me, in fear of the other shooting.

"He's right." Beth says. "You guys are supposed to be friends. Can't you two work something out?" Dawn and Gorman seem to take Beth's words into consideration, because both start to lower their guns. Once both have their guns holstered, however, the real fight begins.

Gorman tackles Dawn, taking them both down to the ground. They swing punches at each other, taking turns being on top, before they roll into the wall. Gorman stands up, and kicks Dawn repeatedly in the ribs. She curls up, dodging the kicks with her shins. Suddenly, Beth is in the picture, breaking a jar or a glass or something over Gorman's head. Well, at least she tried to. He blocks it, sending the glass item shattering across the floor. He backhands Beth roughly. She falls to her knees, holding her face.

Dawn takes the opportunity to kick Gorman in the stomach. He backs up, giving her time to get to her feet. Once she does, Gorman charges at her. Dawn moves out of the way, and uses Gorman's momentum to send him face first into the wall. I hear the crunch of bone, and blood spills onto the floor. Gorman's broke his nose. Good.

"It didn't have to be like this!" Dawn screeches, kneeing Gorman in his chest. She goes for a punch to the face, but Gorman moves his head out of the way. Dawn's fist collides with the wall. Gorman head butts her, and throws her back against the wall. He wraps his hands around her neck, lifting her up off of her feet. Dawn squirms, but ultimately Gorman is stronger.

"Just die already, you bitch!" In that spit second, I decide whether or not I want Dawn to die. I decide that she should. But, if Gorman kills her and takes control, I see lots of beatings and rapes in everybody's near future. I will not let that happen to anybody ever again. Nobody deserves to suffer that kind of pain and humiliation. Therefore, I make up my mind: Dawn has to live.

I lurch up to my feet, and run straight for Gorman. He hears me coming, though, and turns around just as I punch him in his broken nose. He screams, swatting at me with one hand. He hits me in my chest, sending me back a couple of feet. Dawn takes her shot; A swift throat punch. Gorman chokes up, releasing Dawn and backing away from her, holding his throat. I kick him in the balls hard, and he doubles over, leaning towards the empty elevator shaft.

"BETH!" Dawn chokes out.

Beth flat out pushes Gorman through the empty space. He's swallowed up by darkness. I hear his body hit the bottom, defined by a soft _thump_. Everybody takes a moment to catch their breath. Dawn has a red ring around her throat from where Gorman's hands were chocking the life out of her. Already, I see the beginnings of a black eye forming on her face.

"You okay?" I ask between gasps. She nods, looking at me, then Beth. Dawn smiles.

"Good work."

_SASHA'S POV _

The ride to Atlanta is long and quiet.

Daryl and Noah drove a delivery truck back to the church, so Tyreese, Rick and myself sit in the back. The rest of the truck is pretty bare, except for the few bags of supplies we brought along in case something goes wrong in Atlanta.

"Carl, how's everythang at the church?" Ricks asks into the handheld radio, his southern accent very prominent.

_"Just fine, Dad. You don't have to check in every 5 minutes."_ Carl replies through the speaker, crackling with static.

"Just being safe. Talk to you soon."

_"Love you, Dad." _

"Love you too, Carl." Right before Rick shuts the radio off, I grab it out of his hands.

"Wait! Put Bob on, can you?" I hear someone giggle in the background, and I know it must be Alex, listening in. A few seconds later, Bob's voice comes over the radio.

"_You called?_" He almost sounds annoyed, but I know it's just a ploy.

"Just wanted to hear your voice is all." I admit. I feel the warmth of a blush on my face, even though Bob can't see me. Rick and Tyreese smile like idiots, and I decide they'll get a scolding once i'm done talking to Bob.

_"How sweet. I-"_ His voice fades away.

"Bob?" There's no answer. Rick grabs the device from me and tries to reach Bob. He bangs it against his palm, and tries again. Same result. "Battery died." I sigh in relief. For a second, I thought something bad had happened to Bob. I don't know what I would even do if something happened to him while I was gone. I could never forgive myself.

"Do we got any spares?" Tyreese asks.

"Yeah, gimmie a sec." Rick digs in his knapsack, pulling out boxes of ammo and other odds and ends. Finally, he finds a pair of batteries. I wait anxiously as he changes the batteries. Rick switches on the radio again, but Bob's not there. A million scenarios run through my head. People. Termites. Walkers. Fire. All of the above.

"Hello?" Rick calls repeatedly, but all there is to be heard is static.

"Oh no." I whimper, looking to Tyreese for comfort. He looks equally shocked.

"It could be anything, Sasha. Maybe the batteries died on theirs." He cooes, but I know he's just saying that. Something is wrong. I'm already halfway across the van, ready to have Daryl swing back around for the church when I hear a sound I shouldn't be able to hear inside a moving van. It takes me a minute, but I realize the sound is coming from the handheld radio.

Walker moans.


	15. Chapter 15: A Prison Of Uncertainty

_Happy Holidays! :) ~TheChuckles_

_ALEX'S POV _

"Nice selection." Carl's voice is the only noise in the church. Father Gabriel is holding a machete like it's a deadly snake about to _attack_ him. I can't help but smile just a little bit. Bob and Michonne are watching Connor and Ashley in the back, while Carl, Gabriel and myself sit near the altar.

"You need to adjust your grip. Sometimes the skulls aren't as soft and you have to drive down-" Carl explains, driving his own machete through the air.

"I think I need to lay down." Gabriel says. His face is dotted with beads of sweat, even though he hasn't done any practicing. How has he survived all this time if he can't even hold a machete right? My god. Gabriel sets down the machete gently, as if it were a bomb, and rushes into the second backroom. Carl sighs.

"I don't know how he's made it this far if he can't even defend himself."

"Magic, maybe." I smile. "Maybe he's a wizard."

"Or a witch." Carl grins.

"_Carl, how's everythang at the church?_" Rick's voice comes in through the handheld radio, surrounded by static. Carl sighs, picking the device up from the floor.

"Just fine, Dad. You don't have to check in every 5 minutes." Carl replies, groaning. This is the fourth time Rick has checked in on us since they left two hours ago.

_"Just being safe. Talk to you soon."_

"Love you, Dad."

_"Love you too, Carl."_ Carl sets the walkie down, but right as we resume conversation, a female voice blares through.

_"Wait! Put Bob on, can you?"_ It's Sasha, of course. I giggle, covering my mouth so she can't hear me. Carl races into the room, and comes back out a second later, smiling like an idiot.

"They're so cute together."

"I know! We need to give them a couple name!" I say, giddy with joy.

"Hmmm...how about _Bobsha_?" I burst out laughing. Carl blushes ever the slightest, giggling to himself.

"It's perfect." I choke out between laughs.

"Hey guys, the battery died on this thing." Bob says, walk/limping out of the room.

"Spares are in that tub over there." Carl tells him, pointing towards the back pews near the double door entrance to the church. Bob hobbles down, and sits down in front of the big clear tub full of old electronic trash. He sifts through quickly, producing one walkie talkie battery. Just as he puts it in, something crashes against the door from outside.

"What the hell is that?" Carl asks, resting his hand on his gun secured on his leg. I grab my own pistol from the pocket in my Wisconsin Badger hoodie, since I still don't have a holster.

"Walkers! Lots of them!" Bob says, sliding away from the doors frantically. More walkers crash against the doors, and I hear them start to squeak and creak. Must be a lot of them. Damn it. Carl runs up the aisle, helps Bob up, and makes for the backroom. Bob drops the handheld radio near the doors. A voice comes through, but I can't tell who it is or what it's saying.

As I stand up, balancing myself on my crutches, the doors start to give way. The plywood support beam wedged against them snaps in half. Rotted and decaying hands force their way through the gap made by the beam. Seconds later, the doors swing open, revealing at least twenty walkers waiting for their next meal.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." I mutter to myself as I make for the second backroom, where Gabriel is. Carl comes out of the first one, Michonne hot on his heels. She has Judith in a little knapsack strapped to her back, sword drawn, ready to fight. Bob, Connor and Ashley follow close behind her.

I force open the door with my crutch, and I see Gabriel kneeling on the floor, pulling at the floor with another machete. On second glance, I notice it's _Isaac's_. I almost ask how the hell he got it and why is he using it, but i'm happy he is. He's made a gap in the floor big enough for people, saving us time, and perhaps our lives.

Carl helps me down through the floor, tossing a flashlight down. Ahead of me, I see light. I crawl, slowly and painfully through the dirt and dust underneath the church towards the outside. Dirt gets in my eyes, in my nose, and in my lungs. I'm coughing by the time I force myself through the gap, rolling over onto my back as the others start to work their way out.

I hear a walker moan, followed by weight on my bad ankle. My eyes spring open to see a fresh walker kneeling on my leg, poised to make me a meal. The pain on my healing ankle is excrusiating, but I fight through it, kicking the walker in the head with my other leg. It falters, and I roll away from it. I grab my crutches from the ground, and smash them on both sides of the walker's head repeatedly, until all that's left of its head is mush.

"Stay here!" Michonne runs around the corner of the church decapitating a lone walker on her way. A few seconds later she returns.

"Doors are secured, but they saw me. We don't have much time."

"Can't we just take them out? We have enough firepower." Carl says, checking the clip on his pistol.

"No, absolutely not. We're not drawing anymore of them down on us."

"Then what do we do?" Bob asks.

As an answer, we hear a loud engine near the front of the church. Michonne leads the way, hugging the wall closely. I try to use my crutches, but I end up slipping due to the walker mush smeared on the bottom half of them. Connor lets me use him for support. I notice he has the axe he's been training with in hand.

Michonne peaks around the corner, and breaks into a smile. Are they already back? Carl follows her, breaking into a light jog. I hear laughter. Bob is next, followed by Gabriel and Ashley. Connor and I round the corner last, and are greeted by a firetruck, it's red paintjob contrasting the dark green of the forest.

"Hey!" Maggie yells at me, breaking away from Michonne to lock me in a hug. I'm beyond confused, but at the same time immensly happy that Maggie and the rest have returned. But why?

"You guys are supposed to be going to Washington..._what happened?"_ I ask into her shoulder. Maggie lets me go, helping me sit down on the ground. I notice that the firetruck is blocking the front of the church. Therefor, the walkers inside can't get out. Smart.

"Eugene lied. There's no cure, and there's no government left in D.C." Maggie says all in one quick sentence, glancing into the forest instead of looking at me.

"What? No!" I can't believe what she just said. No, oh god no. There's really no cure? We're actually stuck in this constant cycle of hell we call life? He lied?! How could he do that?

"I know." Maggie comments on my silence. She wipes her eyes. "We found out yesterday-"

"Where's Eugene?" My voice is cold and numb, I realize.

"Listen, Alex-"

"No, where is he? I'll kill him myself!" My voice raises in anger, until everybody else has fallen silent. I try to stand up, but I remember that I can't.

"Have fun with that. I've already tried." Kat calls out. Her voice is hoarse and sarcastic. I look to where she's standing, a bow and arrow in her hands. "You can't even get close to him without getting threatened." She shoots a venemous stare in Glenn's direction, for what reason I don't know.

"It's all done with, okay everybody! Let's just move on with our lives!" Tara yells in a commanding voice I didn't know she possessed. I try and slow my breathing down, but the anger is still there, bubbling beneath my skin.

"Maggie" Michonne says suddenly, kneeling down in front of us. "Beth's alive!" With everything going on, I completely forgot about Beth and Elijah.

Maggie's eyes go wide, the deep frown on her face replaced with a wide grin.

"What?! Where is she?"

Michonne puts a hand on Maggie's shoulder. "She's with Elijah in Atlanta. They're being held by a group, but Rick's already taken some people to go deal with them." Happy tears flow freely down Maggie's face. She drags Michonne into an embrace.

"Let's go get my sister back!" Maggie says finally. Everybody begins to pile into the firetruck. Tara, Rosita and myself have to take off in the truck, though, because the firetruck gets too full. That must be one awkward ride. The liar, his protectors, and the people trying to keep him safe. Have fun, guys.

_Beth, Elijah, we're on our way._ I think as the engine starts, and we fall in line behind the firetruck. It's only a matter of time now.

_SASHA'S POV _

"BOB!" I scream, ripping the handheld radio out of Rick's clutches. I scream his name again and again into the device, but the shuffling of feet and the moans of the dead are all that respond.

"We have to turn around! Daryl!" Tears blur my vison. I feel Tyreese grab my arm gently. He pulls me into him, and I collapse. I can't lose Bob, not after losing everything else. Oh my god, he's still injured and it sounded like a lot of walkers and he might not make it out in time and oh my god I can't lose him. I couldn't go on if he died. What would I do with myself? We need to survive together, and get to Washington, and live happily ever after. But I know that he's probably dead by now. I don't believe in luck, I do the math and I don't gamble.

"Sasha-" Rick starts, his voice too calm given the current situation.

"No, Rick, you listen! We have to go back! Bob's there, Michonne, YOUR SON IS THERE AND THEY ARE IN DANGER!" I scream, not caring that we're in a small place and the echo must be unbearable. Rick pinches the skin near the bridge of his nose, deep in thought. How can he seriously be debating whether to go back or not? They could all be dying right now!

"Daryl, turn the truck around." Rick says finally.

"Can't. We don't have much gas left, and we're already here anyways." I glance at the windshield, and see miles of decaying buildings. The concrete jungle has been reduced to a big gray graveyard.

"Dammit! Alright, let's get in and out of this place as fast as we can. Then, we hightail it home. Clear?" Rick speaks up. Everybody mumbles or nods in agreement except me.

"Okay, here's how it's gonna work..." Rick goes into detail about our plan of attack, refrencing a map Noah drew him back at the chruch. Oh god, the church...Bob. It's just too much. I can't keep my thoughts straight.

"_Rick_?" I recognize Glenn's voice coming in through the handheld.

Rick gapes at the device blankly, until I scoop it up. "Glenn?! Where are you guys? Is Bob alright?" I bombard him with questions.

"_Sasha? Yeah, Bob's fine. Everybody is. We got here just in time, it looks like. Listen, tell Rick we're on our way to Atlanta. We'll be there in probably four hours_." Rick grabs the walkie talkie.

"Why? What happened to going to Washington?"

Glenn sighs. "_It was a lie. Eugene lied. He doesn't know the cure, and there's nobody waiting for us in Washington. Gotta go. See you guys soon._"

"What the hell was that about?" Daryl asks after Glenn finishes talking.

"They're safe. Sasha, Bob is safe." Rick looks me directly in the eyes, and I see the ghost of farmer Rick from the prison. After he had a psychotic meltdown when we showed up at the prison for the first time, before he had to bring back the ugly side to deal with the dangers of this world. His gaze is sincere. I allow myself to smile through my tears.

"Rick, about that plan..." Tyreese starts, clearing his throat.

"Go on."

"I just think, it's, well, a little extreme. Sure, we could sneak in there undetected, take out the guards. But, just one person where they shouldn't be, and we could shoot ourselves in the foot. It'd be a hellstorm of bullets."

"What are you suggesting?" Rick tilts his head at Tyreese ever slightly.

"Couldn't we snag a couple of their officers, and make a fair trade. Their people for our people. Everybody walks away alive."

"Ty, you're plan could work, I admit. But my plan _will _work. These people are too dangerous." Rick says in his hoarse whisper.

"Rick, they don't even know we're coming. And, just saying, we're dangerous too. They've been in that hospital since this began. We've been on the road. We've faced bad people. There's no way they are more dangerous than us." Tyreese makes sense, I realize.

"Daryl?"

"I'm with him, Rick." Daryl calls out.

"Okay, then. We'll do it your way." Rick turns to Noah in the passenger seat. "How can we get some of them out here?"

"Fire off a shot near the hospital. They'll come to investigate. We can take the officers that show up, and eventually Dawn will send two more as backup once they don't respond."

"Good. Be on your toes, guys. This could get really ugly really fast."

_CAROLINE'S POV _

A gunshot rings in the distance, from somewhere in the vast city around us. I can't seen anything moving outside the window, but that doesn't mean anything. We're high up. Carol still lies in a coma, the machines whurring and beeping around her make her look incredibly small and fragile. But she's not. In the short time i've known Carol, i've figured out she's strong, independent, and anything but weak.

"-Lambson, you two go down and see what that was. Could've been Noah." Dawn's voice echoes from the hallway. Two officers pass the open doorway at a brisk pace. Dawn walks by a couple seconds later, flanked by Beth and Dr. Edwards. She enters the room first, looking at me with distaste.

"On another break?" She asks sarcastically.

"No, just praying." I respond, not in the mood for another arguement. Dawn senses this as well, and backs off slightly. "Well, I need you to fold some laundry when you finish up." She turns to Dr. Edwards. "Check her vitals. Beth, with me." Dawn walks out of the room, followed closely by Beth. Dr. Edwards looks at the machines, scribbles some stuff down on his clipboard, and leaves.

"Oh Carol, please wake up. We need you." I say, interlocking my fingers with hers. Daryl knows where we are. He escaped. He'll go back to the church and rally the troops. Hell, maybe it was them who fired the shot. The moment doesn't last, because Dr. Edwards is back, Dawn at his side. She looks at Carol, then at Edwards.

"You sure?" She asks him.

"Postitive."

Dawn nods. "Okay then, unplug the machines."


	16. Chapter 16: Bad Feelings

_Happy New Year! ~TheChuckles_

_CAROLINE'S POV _

My eyes go wide. "What?! You can't do that!"

Dawn glares at me. "Who's in charge here?" When I don't answer, she continues. "I'm not doing this to spite you, Caroline. I'm not like that. Dr. Edwards has told me that Carol has a very low probability of surviving. We have to conserve as much electricity here as we can. You get the picture, I hope."

"But I thought you were supposed to save people here!" I argue, but I already know it's a lost cause. Dr. Edwards proceeds to turn off all the machines around Carol, tossing the room into silence. Her chest keeps rising and falling, although not very much.

"I'm sorry, but it had to be done." Dawn walks out just as Elijah and Beth walk in. Elijah takes one look at Dawn and explodes.

"What do you think you're doing?! That's our friend!" He grabs Dawn by the shoulder, but she sees it coming. She pushes Elijah against the door frame, her forearm over his windpipe.

"Don't you _ever _come at me like that again." She warns in a deadly whisper, staring at him with a knowing glare. Something happened between the two of them.

"Dawn, let him go!" Beth doesn't physically touch Dawn, just waves her hands in front of her face. I expect Dawn to lash out at Beth as well, but she simply lets Eli go. "In my office. Now." She spits out, storming off. Elijah and Beth glance at each other warily, but they eventually follow.

"You need to get back to work." Dr. Edwards says after more silence. I scoff.

"Get the fuck out of here, man." I say with as much venom as I can muster.

"Okay." He says weakly, turning on his heel and hightailing it out of the room.

_SASHA'S POV _

The officers show up earlier than we expected. It's only been ten minutes since Rick fired a shot into the air, and already we can see the cop car coming towards our location. Noah stands in the alley, waiting until they see him. Once they do, he'll hobble over to us hiding behind the dumpster, and we take the officers. Simple really.

The car pulls into the alley, obviously spotting Noah. Noah feigns surprise and fear, or at least I think he does, limping towards our position like he's injured. Two officers get out of the car, guns already drawn.

"Noah stop!" One yells. Noah ignores him. The two cops give pursuit, running down the alley at a leisure pace. They're probably 10 seconds away from reaching Noah.

"Noah please! You're safer with us at Grady than out here!" The woman officer calls out in a nicer tone. Noah doesn't respond. He makes it to the dumpster and dives behind it, out of breath but smiling. The two cops slow to a walk, mere feet away from us. Ricks nods, and we reveal ourselves, guns drawn.

"Drop your weapons and get on your knees. Hands behind your backs." Daryl commands.

"What the hell is this?" The woman officer asks, slowly falling to her knees.

"You have some of our people. We're hoping for an even trade is all." Tyreese tells her as he secures plastic ties around her wrists. The man with her doesn't comply at first, aiming his gun at Rick definitely. However, he doesn't resist when Daryl rips it from his hands and forces him on his knees. Daryl pulls his wrists behind his back and ties them.

"Anybody else we should know about? You guys have any backup coming?" Rick asks after everything has settled. The male officer leans towards the radio on his shoulder. I pump my shotgun once, suggestively, and he stops dead in his tracks.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you." I say. On cue, Tyreese and Daryl grab both of the radios off of the officers.

"Hand me one of those." Ricks says. Tyreese tosses one over to Rick, who catches it with one hand. His gun rests in the other, aimed at the two officers. He presses the button down, about to speak, but the woman speaks up.

"Wait." Rick stops momentarily.

"Dawn'll send another officer when we don't come back." She says hurriedly.

"What are you doing?" The other guy looks mad.

"Shut up _Bob_, i'm trying to keep us alive." The woman replies. Bob...did she say Bob? Suddenly all my thoughts are swimming with visions of the church overrun with walkers, Bob being torn apart...no. That's not what happened. Glenn and Maggie's group are there. Bob's fine. They're on their way here now.

"You should listen to her, _Bob_." Daryl warns, shutting the officer named Bob up.

"Hey, what's your name?" Rick asks the woman.

"Officer Shepard."

"Well, Officer Shepard, thank you for cooperating." Daryl and Tyreese pick Bob and Officer Shepard up and move them into the warehouse making up part of the alley. Rick, Noah and I stay outside.

"You should get back out there, see if you can get the next officer down here." Rick tells Noah. Noah nods, and walks back up the alley.

"You okay?" Rick asks me once he's out of hearing range.

"Yeah, I guess." I nod, not really believing myself.

"Just making sure." When I don't respond, Rick continues, "Listen, Sasha, I want to apologize for what happened on the way here. I understand why you wanted to go back, and I really wanted to go back too, but we have to get this done first. We don't know how long our people will be alive at Grady. They're _defenseless_. The others aren't. They can fight the dead, and other people if need be."

"I know, Rick. I just got flustered. Just the idea of losing everybody there...Bob...it was too much to handle." I feel a single tear glide down my face. Rick goes to wipe it away, but the gunfire stops him dead in his tracks.

Daryl is first out of the warehouse. "The hell was that?"

"I don't know!" Rick tells him.

"Guys, I need help!" Noah calls from up the alley. Rick, Daryl and myself are all running up the alley within seconds. We round the corner, and see another officer holding Noah to the ground with his knee, finishing tying his hands behind his back. He's huge, probably twice the size of Noah. His bald head gleams in the sunlight, making his caramel skin look extremely tan.

"Freeze!" Rick yells, aiming his gun at the officer's head. In response, the officer whips out his gun and fires. The bullets ricochet off of the cement. I dive back into the alley, peering out a second later to see the officer charging at Daryl. He knees him in the stomach, causing Daryl to drop his crossbow. The officer picks Daryl up and tosses him over his shoulder.

"I told you to freeze!" Rick yells, firing two shots into his chest. He stumbles, but keeps on coming at Rick. He's wearing a bullet proof vest, I realize. The officer lifts up his gun again, poised to end Rick's life, but I fire first. My shot hits him in the hand, sending his gun flying back out of his reach. It skitters on the ground 10 feet away.

The officer's hand is bleeding profusely, a small, jagged hole poking completely through his hand. Daryl takes advantage and tackles him from behind. They tumble onto the cement, knocking Rick off of his feet. The officer climbs on top of Daryl, punching him several times in the face before Rick tackles him off. He lands on his shot hand, and screams out in pain. Rick takes the opportunity to lock one handcuff around his wrist, but he's thrown off before he can get the other one on.

Daryl kicks the officer twice in the chest, allowing Rick to get back on top of him. He gets the other handcuff on and pulls the hefty man to his feet. His nose is bleeding as badly as his hand, but he's smirking.

"What the hell's your deal, man?" Daryl asks once everything is over. The officer remains silent.

"He's one of the bad ones. _Officer Licari_." Noah says, rubbing his wrists. "Officers Lambson and Shepard, they're good."

"Really? Didn't think there was any. Not from the way you described it." I say, confused.

"Well, the place is still bad."

"I see."

"What do we do now, Rick?" Tyreese asks as Daryl takes Licari into the warehouse with the others.

"We contact Dawn."

_CAROLINE'S POV_

"Who the hell is this and what the hell do you think you're doing?" Dawn practically screams into the radio. One of the officers peeks into the office, but Elijah waves him off. Beth rushes over and shuts the door, locking it. We were in her office to have a talk, but somebody has started radioing in from one of her officer's radios.

"_I'm Rick Grimes, is this Dawn?_"

Wait a minute, he's part of the group. No, he was the leader. Oh my god, what's he doing calling Dawn? He knows we're here! Beth's face lights up instantly, but it takes Elijah a second to realize what's going on. We're being saved!

"Yes, this is Dawn. What have you done with my officers? Are they dead?" She sounds furious.

"_Listen, Dawn, I have a proposal to make. You have some of our people. I have some of yours. I propose to make a trade. Your people for ours. Nobody gets hurt, we all walk away_."

Dawn is actually rendered speechless. Beth grabs the radio out of Dawn's hands. "Rick!"

"_Beth? Oh my god, are you all alright?_"

"Yeah, we're fine. Well, Carol's still in a coma but-" Dawn rips the device out of her hands.

"They're fine, Rick Grimes. I'm assuming you know where the hospital is. Come in through the front entrance. Take the stairs to the 10th floor, wait outside the doors with our people. Have your weapons holstered and your hands up. If you fail to comply, the deal is off. Understand?"

"_Yeah, I understand. You have our people, all four of them, within our sight when we get up there. Have your guns holstered or the deal is off. Understand?_"

"Yeah."

"_See you soon, Dawn._" Dawn turns off the radio, and slams it down on her desk. She grits her teeth, staring at the three of us.

"So, that's how you're all connected...I'll go get Dr. Edwards. He'll show you where your things are." Dawn walks out of her office silently, leaving the three of us behind. Once she's shut the door, Elijah lets out a _WHOOP_ loud enough that Rick might here it from across the city.

"I told you they were coming for us!" Beth exclaims, first hugging Elijah before running across the room to hug me. She has tears in her eyes. They've been here for several days, where I just got here yesterday. I don't know even half of the things they've had to deal with.

"It's about time!" Elijah says, but he's smiling. "I'm getting pretty damn sick of being abducted and held captive."

"You and me both buddy." I say. All three of us were captured by Terminus, then we escaped, joined Maggie, and Beth and Elijah got captured by these people here at Grady. Then a couple days later, Carol and I get ran over in broad daylight. Jesus. I'm so sick and tired of being injured or hostage. Jesus.

The door opens, and Dawn steps in. "Follow me if you guys want your stuff." She pauses, looking out into the hallway. "Oh, and your friend has woken up."

_ALEX'S POV_

"Wow. Look at that." Tara says when the Atlanta skyline comes into view. I'm sure it was a beautiful city once, but now it's in shambles. All of the buildings are faded and decaying. Vines hang off of many, while others have huge black streaks running along the length of them.

"Yeah, you'll get over it. I've seen so many of the 'big cities' now it's ridiculous. Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Little Rock...now I can check Atlanta off of my list." Rosita says nonchalantly, looking out the window.

"Well, i've been stuck in forests and dinky little camps for the last two years." Tara retorts, gleaming at the city.

"First city i've seen since Indianapolis." I comment.

"You've been to _Indianapolis_?" Rosita asks.

"Yeah, I lived in Indiana before. Went there looking for shelter, but it was overrun. Winter came, and I moved south. Avoided all the other cities, you know, stayed away from the hot spots."

"Why do all the buildings look so..._burnt_?" Tara asks

"They probably dropped napalm on it. Same thing happened to Dallas." Rosita comments dully. "I'm surprised anybody is still left in the city."

"Well, I guess once everybody cleared out, all you had to look out for was the the walkers. Could slip through the buildings quickly and quietly. All of the supplies left there would be yours, essentially..." The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

"True, true..." Tara admits.

"I'll just be happy when this is all done and over with."

"I think we'll all be happier, Rosita."

"Oh yeah. I just want this to get over with already. I already have a bad feeling about all of it." I say truthfully. I can't shake the feeling that something is about to go really, _really_ wrong.


	17. Chapter 17: Out Of The Lion's Den

_ ELIJAH'S POV _

I think the waiting is going to kill me.

Beth, Caroline, Carol and myself are in the hallway, Carol in a wheelchair. Dawn stands in front of us, watching the doors like a hawk. Behind us, the rest of the officers stand at attention. No weapons are drawn, just like Rick demanded. Beth and Caroline have their regular clothes on, but I chose to stay in my Dawn issued hospital scrubs. My old clothes are all tattered and riddled with holes, so I told Dawn I would rather not wear them. I have my gun however. For lack of better placement, I have it tucked in my pocket.

Beth is almost jumping out of her skin with joy. She's bouncing up and down on her heels, anticipating the moment she sees her group for the first time in weeks. I've never met most of them, but i'm looking forward to seeing Alex again. We hardly got any time to catch up when we were being herded to Terminus. I didn't even know he was alive until last week. I thought I was seeing a damn mirage when those pricks brought him out of that house. But no, he was real. Man, he doesn't even know half the bad things i've done.

Caroline remains still, but I can sense she's happy to get out of here. She was with the Terminus caravan before I was even there. And then she gets shot escaping Terminus. When she finally recovers, she's taken by these damn people. _Ugh_. I don't know her that well, but I can tell she doesn't deserve any of what she's been through.

Suddenly, footsteps can be heard coming from the stairwell. My hands start sweating and my heart beat quickens. We're so close from being taken out of this hellhole, and then we're free to do whatever. Anything besides doing laundry or getting bossed around by Dawn is fine by me.

Through the windows in the doors, I can see two familiar faces, but they aren't friendly. Officers. Captive officers. Three of them are lined up right behind the door. Behind them I see a burly man with greasy black hair and a decent sized beard. A taller black man stands next to him, with an even thicker beard than the first guy. A black woman with her hair pulled back in a bun, then Daryl and Noah. _Where are the rest of them? Maggie? Alex? _

"Come in!" Dawn calls out. Daryl and the black man push open the doors, while Noah and the other two escort the officers in. One of them, Officer Licari or something, has a bandage over his nose. There are blood stains on his uniform. The other two officers look untouched.

"What happened to Licari?" Dawn asks, furious.

"He resisted." Daryl says, rubbing his knuckles. Dawn scoffs.

"Whatever, I just want to get this over with. One of mine for one of yours." Dawn says. "Which of you is Rick Grimes?"

"I am." The man with the black hair and beard says. So that's the living legend Beth has told me so much about. I kind of expected him to wear a cape and be clean shaven. Oh well. At least he showed up.

"Are you Dawn?" His voice is scratchy.

"Yeah." Dawn replies coldly.

"Some operation you got here." Daryl remarks.

"It's been hard keeping this place together. Most people don't understand." Dawn says, grabbing Beth by the forearm. Rick Grimes grabs Licari. They start walking towards each other warily. Once they get a couple feet from each other, Rick shoves Licari forward. Dawn shoves Beth into Rick's arms. He looks at the bruises on Beth's face with disdain.

"What happened to her?"

"She resisted." _More like I did, and she suffered for it_, I think. Oh, how I can't wait to be out of here. It's been too damn long since i've been able to relax. First those Terminus scumbags and now Dawn's goonies.

"One of mine for one of yours." Rick says it this time. Dawn nods, and grabs the handles of Carol's wheelchair. She looks up at Dawn skeptically, but remains silent. Daryl grabs Officer Lambson and brings him forward. Once he gets close enough, Daryl lifts Carol straight up out of her wheelchair and carries her back in a hugging embrace. Lambson walks forward, allowing Dawn to cut his restraints.

"Wait." Lambson says. He turns back towards Rick. "The way you hold yourself, the way you command things...are you a cop?"

"I was a cop." Rick says coolly, trying hard not to rest his hand on his gun.

"You all could join us. We need more people like you. Strong, trained, disciplined."

"No." Dawn and Rick say at the same time.

"Noah's told us what happens here. We don't want any part of that." The black woman says.

"That's fair." Dawn says sarcastically. "One of yours for one of mine." She gently pushes Caroline forward. Rick pats Officer Shepard on the shoulder, and she moves forward. Once she gets close enough, Caroline frees herself from Dawn's grip and stumbles forward into Rick. Shepard has to move before she runs into her. Rick embraces her, and passes her off to Daryl.

"Okay, now I just need Noah." Dawn says. The mood quickly turns from unpleasant and full of tension to sour in a heartbeat.

"Look, that wasn't part of the agreement-"

"Do you want Elijah or not?" Dawn says, stopping Rick dead in his tracks.

"He's part of the agreement. Your people for ours." The black woman says.

"You gave me three of my officers back. I gave you three of your people back. We're even."

"No, we're not. If you break off this deal right now, we're inclined to take back what's ours." Rick says, finally resting his hand on his gun. In response, the rest of his part grab their weapons. Dawn grabs her pistol, along with the other officers.

"Yours? Yeah right! You never had any claim on him." Dawn says, "We saved Beth and him, brought them here. He's wearing the clothes I gave him. He's been eating the food that I have been allowing him to eat. And how does he repay that? He tries to escape, endangering the lives of two other wards! He _owes_ me."

"That's a big fat lie right there." I say, taking a couple steps towards Rick's group. Dawn turns to block my path.

"What are you talking about? I'm not lying."

"Pff, yeah right Dawn. Beth and I were walking along a road when one of your douche bag officers ran us over and shoved us in his car." Finally telling Dawn off feels too good.

"Which one was it?" Daryl asks, raising his crossbow.

"Oh, don't worry about him. I helped Dawn kill him just yesterday." A few of the other officers gasp. "Oops, wasn't supposed to let that slip." I smirk. "You've held us here, against our will, for days. I've asked for my stuff back, but you've denied me that right. Go to hell, Dawn."

"You uptight little brat! I-" Dawn starts, but Noah stops her.

"Everybody stop! I'll go." All of the commotion stops dead in its tracks.

"What?"

"Noah, NO. I can't allow you to do that." Rick says, blocking his path.

"No, i'm going. If its Elijah's only chance to get out of here, then i'm doing this." Noah takes his gun out of his holster and hands it to Rick. Rick just looks at him with pity.

"Are you sure about this?"

"As sure as I can be." He replies, limping in front of Dawn.

I step forward. "Are you 100% sure about this, man? You don't have to do this. I'll find my own way out. You guys just wait for me."

"No, I can't do that to you. You don't know this place. I do. If anybody can escape, it's me." I feel horrible knowing that i'll be free while Noah remains here, under Dawn's iron fist. It isn't right.

"Wait!" Beth calls out, running up to Noah. She hugs him fiercely, and I admit i'm only a little jealous. She looks at Dawn with pure anger.

"I knew you'd be back." Dawn says to Noah. "They always come back."

"I get it now." Beth says, turning to face Dawn face to face. What's she talking about? Let's just get the fuck out of here! For the longest second silence reigns, and I'm about to tell Beth to back off, but I see the horrible glint of shiny metal out of the corner of my eye. It's coming from inside Beth's cast. I make out a sharp point. Oh my god, no. She has scissors...

"Beth, no!" I say, but it's in vein. She's already raised her cast hand up, plunging the scissors into Dawn's shoulder. I hear a gun go off. Blood speckles dot Noah's forehead. Has he been shot? No, he's still standing. Dawn's not falling down. I search to see who's fired and who's been shot. The realization slowly dawns on me. My suspicions are confirmed when I look into Beth's eyes for a final time. The bullet hole in her forehead ruins her face, her beautiful face...

"NO!" I rush forward just as her dead body crumples to the floor.

_SASHA'S POV _

Watching Beth's dead body collapse is one of the worst things i've ever seen. Elijah's screams break the silence. He cradles her body, sobbing out of control. Dawn looks up in shock.

"I didn't-I wasn't-" She searches for the right words to say, but she never finds them. A bolt from Daryl's crossbow strikes her temple as she's in mid sentence. Her body falls to the floor, limp and dead. The other officers draw their guns, and we all draw ours. These people are gonna pay for this...

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Officer Shepard yells just as hell is about to break loose. It works, at least momentarily. Nobody fires. She holds her hands up in the air, dropping her pistol onto the floor with a loud _THUD_.

"It's over! Nobody else needs to die!"

Daryl steps forward. "She killed her! She-"

"We aren't with Dawn. None of us liked her anyways. We have no part in what she's done."

"But-"

"Daryl" Carol rests her hand on his shoulder. He looks at her, tears in his eyes, and collapses into her. I look at Tyreese, and his eyes are wide from shock. Noah looks absolutely traumatized, and I can't blame him. Beth's blood covers his face. That poor kid. I hope he doesn't blame himself for what just happened.

"Fine." Rick says coldly. "But i'm taking anybody back there that wants to come with us." I look behind the line of officers, and see several other people in scrubs like Elijah is wearing watching from half open doors.

After nobody comes forwards, Daryl and Tyreese step forward. Daryl picks up Beth's body gently, nudging Elijah out of the way. He clings onto her corpse, however, and Tyreese has to physically lift him off.

"LET GO OF ME!" He yells right in his face, punching Tyreese in the chest. It doesn't faze Tyreese, though. He just lifts Elijah up over his shoulder. He bangs his fists on Tyreese's back weakly once or twice, but all the fight is out of him. They follow Daryl out the doors and down the steps. I follow Tyreese flanked by Carol and Caroline. Rick follows me, walking with Noah in the back. He's whispering to him, but Noah doesn't reply.

Suddenly, I remember that Maggie and everybody else are on their way here right now. She still thinks Beth is alive...oh my god. How are we going to tell her that Beth is dead? How will she react? Can she take it? All this time, Maggie's either been looking for Glenn or Beth, and now she thinks her search will finally be over. Well, in a way it will be.

I'm filled with dread as we descend the flights of stairs down to the bottom floor. I see a firetruck pull into the parking lot, followed by the red truck Daryl found. Abraham and Kat are the first out of the firetruck, followed by Maggie and Glenn. Michonne, Carl and Father Gabriel come out next. Bob is last, helped out by Connor and Ashley. I see Tara and Rosita emerge from the truck. Rosita helps Alex out, but i'm already running through the front doors.

Maggie says something, but I don't hear it as I collide into Bob. He falls back against the firetruck, surprised. He expects a kiss, but all I can manage is a hug before I start crying. He realizes something is wrong, and returns my hug.

"What happened?" He whispers.

"I thought you were dead!" I sob into his chest.

"I'm not. Don't worry."

I look up. "Is that all you have to say? You leave me hanging on the radio and I hear walkers and I didn't know if you were alive or dead and all you can say is 'i'm not?!" In return, he leans down and kisses my forehead. It may have only been a couple hours since we last saw each other, but it's felt like a million years. I'm just too relived to have him back in my reach.

When I hear an agonized scream, I know Maggie has seen Beth. It takes a lot, but I turn around to bear witness to a horribly tragic scene.

Daryl holds Beth's body solemnly, cradling it like one would a child. Maggie is kneeling at his feet, sobbing uncontrollably, holding Beth's hand. Everybody is rendered speechless. Off the side, Elijah collapses into Alex's arms, crying hopelessly. Alex has to lean against the truck to prevent falling over. I see tears in his eyes. I can only imagine how crushed Maggie is feeling right now. To find out there's no sanctuary in D.C and her sister is dead. Talk about insult to injury.

Glenn sits off to Maggie's side, trying to comfort her. Abraham, Rosita and Kat stand on one side, looking away awkwardly. Tara and Father Gabriel stand on the other side, equally saddened. Rick and Michonne embrace Carl as he just simply stares at Beth's body. Alex's siblings try to comfort Elijah as well, but its not working too well. Carol and Caroline stand next to Tyreese, hands over their mouths.

The only person unaccounted for is Eugene, but I'm guessing he's in the firetruck. He wouldn't care about Beth's death anyways, he's never met her. Plus, he probably has much bigger problems to comprehend. What are we going to do with him, now that we all know he's lied?

"We have to move..." Rick says quietly, looking anywhere but at Daryl. Nobody seems to hear him, except for the horde of walkers that materializes against the fence on the far side of the lot. You've got to be fucking kidding me, I think. We can't deal with this right now.

"Oh my god!" Father Gabriel yells, breaking the solemn mood. Abraham and Kat pull out their guns and aim at the fence, but it's hopeless. Firing a gun would bring every walker in the damn city down on us, and then we'd really be screwed. There's too many there, and I see more behind those. There has to be hundreds of them. Oh my god. How they snuck up on us is beyond me. All I know is we have to get the hell out of here.

_Only 4 more chapters in Who Needs Luck? Part 2 in the Play On Luck TWD fanfiction series! Never fear, there will be a Part 3. In other news, I plan on launching a prequel series that shines some light on Kat and Isaac's adventures before they meet Alex. Sound good? ~TheChuckles_


	18. Chapter 18: Into The Heart Of Darkness

_KAT'S POV _

Sometimes I think that the walkers pick the absolutely worst times to show up on _purpose_. Add insult to injury. Sure, that mega herd we encountered yesterday completely turned our mission upside down, but all we had to do was turn around. Here, however, there's walkers all over the goddamn city. We could get caught in a herd within minutes.

"Don't fire!" Rick yells. Abraham and I lower our guns. I reach for my hatchet instead. Rick pulls a red handled machete out of its sheath.

"Get in the trucks! We've gotta move, now!" The walkers push against the fence, but it doesn't last for long. Against that many walkers, that fence doesn't stand a chance. It topples within seconds, and the walkers are stumbling over. Everybody else seems to realize what's going on, and at once they all make for the firetruck.

"Maggie! Daryl! We gotta go!" I yell, running for the smaller red truck. The yelling hurts my throat. They don't respond. Glenn grabs Maggie by her waist and throws her over his shoulder. She starts kicking and screaming, but Glenn manages to get her in the firetruck. Daryl snaps out of his daze. He jumps into the back of the red truck, the corpse of Maggie's sister still in his arms. I get in the drivers seat and slam the door just as a couple walkers start pushing against it. I start the car and take off before the firetruck._ I just hope they follow. _

Glancing to my right, I see Rosita and Alex next to me. They're both looking in the rear view mirror, so they don't see me glance at them. Honestly, out of everybody that could've ended up next to me, it has to be _Alex_? I don't think i'm ready to talk to him yet, even though he didn't do anything wrong. It's just too confusing, I guess.

"The firetruck's going the other way, Kat!" Rosita yells.

"Dammit." I make a U-turn, and turn off a side street to avoid the herd following me. Several walkers are peppered across the street, but I dodge them with relative ease. Up ahead, a pile of rusted cars block the road, forcing me to turn right down a clear street. The walkers are rounding the corner, and it seems like they've doubled in numbers already.

"_STOP_!" Alex yells, but I slam on the breaks too late. We collide into the side of the firetruck. My head slams into the steering wheel. There's movement in the back of the truck. Somebody's head breaks the back window. We probably have twenty seconds before the walkers are down on us. I grope at my face, and my hand comes back sticky with blood.

I open the door, falling onto the hot cement. Somebody helps me up. It's Rick, I realize. He was in the back, along with Daryl and Carl.

"Climb on!" Abraham yells from the firetruck. He pulls forward a little bit.

"We won't all fit! We need another car!" Rick yells back. Abraham curses and comes out of the firetruck. Michonne and Elijah are right behind him. Abe makes for a battered minivan. He breaks the drivers' side window with the butt of his rifle. The car alarm goes off, but once he starts the car it stops.

The first few walkers are within striking distance now. I decapitate one with my hatchet, while Rick slices the top of one's head off. We can't hold off for long.

"Get in!" Abraham calls from the driver's seat. Michonne and Rosita help Alex over, but one of them trips on the curb. Elijah rushes over and helps Alex up, but he doesn't get in the minivan. Instead, he's staring down an alley not far from us, where even more walkers are showing up. Dear god.

I take out two more walkers before I run to the opposite side of the firetruck. "We need help!" I yell, quickly turning to run back around. However, I see walkers up the street stumbling their way on down to us. We're virtually surrounded.

Carol, Tara, Sasha and Bob emerge from the firetruck, locked and loaded. They start firing at the walkers coming from up the street. I almost tell them to stop, but I realize that none of them have handheld weapons like Rick and I.

Abraham drives the minivan over to us. Inside, I see Rosita and Michonne. I grab Tara and dive in. More people are coming out of the firetruck. Father Gabriel nervously steps in, finding a seat in the far back. Ashley races out to help Elijah carry her brother. Connor comes running out of the truck, making a beeline for us. I pull him in just as Rosita slides the door closed.

"What are you doing? We need to help the others!" I say.

"Alex! Ashley!" Connor yells, banging on the windows.

"We gotta go now, or we aren't gonna make it." Abraham says as he starts to pull away. "We'll rednevous with the rest later."

"Go north!" North towards the-" Rick yells, his voice drowned out by gunfire, pointing away from the direction Abraham intends to head.

"Did you hear that? North!"

"Yeah, I heard." Abe swings the van around and drives past the firetruck and the rest of our group as walkers close in.

_CAROLINE'S POV_

"Get back in the firetruck!" Rick yells as he pops off a couple rounds into a nearby walker. He's resorted to using his gun now, like the rest of us. I spray bullets at the walkers coming up the alley. Rick covers Carl as he runs into the RV, Judith wailing in his arms. Daryl saves Elijah and Alex from walkers, and sends Elijah towards the truck. I unleash a volley of bullets at a couple walkers that were getting too close to them. With all this gunfire, all of the dead in the city will be down on us.

"There's too many of us!" Carol yells back.

"We gotta find another vehicle!" Bob says, limping towards a blue Lincoln MKZ. He opens the door, turning back towards the rest of us. Sasha, Carol and myself run towards him, but we're stopped dead in our tracks by the walker that emerges from the Lincoln. It lunges at Bob, biting down on his upper bicep. A geyser of blood erupts, staining the car.

"NOOO!" Sasha screams, shooting the walker that bit him until she runs out of ammo in her shotgun and the walker's face is mush on the cement. Bob falls down, holding his arm in pain. It's bleeding profusely. It's a sloppy bite, and it's too high up on his arm that we can't cut it off.

"Oh lord." Carol kneels down next to Bob, and assess the wound. She looks at Sasha with wet eyes, shaking her head solemnly. She collapses onto him, crying into his chest. He's been bit, and there's only one thing that can be done to stop him from turning. I pinch the bridge of my nose in anger and frustration._ I hardly even knew Bob, and now he's dying._

Walkers are closing in on us, more compact than they were before. Soon they'll be too thick to drive through. Glenn, Maggie, Tyreese and Noah climb in the Lincoln, while Daryl, Alex and his sister struggle to get to the firetruck. Maggie and Tyreese urge Sasha to get in with them, but their pleas fall upon deaf ears.

"Sasha, you gotta let him go!" Carol says. Sasha doesn't respond. Tears fall freely from her face, splashing onto Bob's chest. She reaches for her knife, holding it in a trembling hand. Bob stares at her with a smile of all things on his face. Glenn starts the Lincoln, begging Sasha to get in along with the rest of them. She blocks it out.

"Sasha c'mon! It's too late! Get in the damn car!" Tyreese calls, coming out of the car.

"I love you." She whispers to Bob, plunging the knife into his forehead. The spark of life dies in Bob's eyes, but he remains smiling. Sasha leans down and kisses him one last time. Instead of getting up, though, she turns the knife on herself, slitting her throat.

"SASHA NO!" Carol and I yell at the same time. Her blood splatters onto Bob's chest. Tyreese screams at the top of his lungs, but it's too late. He slaps the knife out of her hands. Sasha falls into him, blood staining his grey long sleeve shirt. She smiles at him one last time before she goes limp. Tyreese drops her, shaking violently. I push him back inside the car, climbing in next to him. I slam the door. I hate to cut his grieving short, but if I didn't he would've stayed there and died.

"Drive!" I yell. Glenn backs up, careful not to run over the bodies of Bob and Sasha. He turns around as best he can, but there are too many walkers. They bang on the windows, leaving smears of blood and other fluids. We ride over a couple, but finally there's an opening. We blast through, driving at high speed away from the walkers. I look back, and see the firetruck pull out after us.

_ALEX'S POV_

"RICK WAIT!" Daryl yells as the firetruck takes off. Over the roar of the engine and the moans of the walkers, though, Daryl's plea is swallowed up. He pulls out his hunting knife, and goes to work on a couple walkers nearby. Ashley swings at one with her axe, but all she does is cut up its stomach. Daryl stabs it in the head. I shoot at a few walkers getting too close to them from my position laying on the ground. A swarm of walkers gather around the truck, all vying to get a piece of Beth's dead body. I look to my left and see Bob and Sasha lying on the ground dead._ What? Oh my god, Sasha NO!_ I reach out for them in vain as a pair of walkers dig in to their corpses. It doesn't seem real. I don't know where Connor is, the rest of the group has left us stranded in the city, and Beth, Bob and Sasha are dead. _Is this some kind of horrible nightmare?_

"In the building!" He yells, picking me up with ease. All I can think about is how he was holding Beth like this just a couple minutes ago. He kicks down the door to the tall building behind us, and we're inside. Light steams through the windows, but it's faint because all the walkers are blocking it out. I can make out a couple empty shelves like those seen in a department store. Daryl sets me down on the floor. He starts pushing shelves against the door as a few walkers start to make their way through. Ashley helps push shelves against the windows, but already the walkers are breaking the glass. It's pointless.

Daryl slings his crossbow onto his back, picking me up again. "C'mon, out the back!" He yells. Ashley follows close behind as we run through the store, practically in the dark. Thank god there weren't any walkers in here to begin with. We exit through the back into an empty alley. Walkers can be seen shambling towards the street behind us from the ends of the alley.

"Up that ladder! Can you climb?"

"Yeah, I think so." I reply. Ashley goes up first. I'm next, being careful not to put any weight on my bad ankle. Daryl takes up the rear, making sure I don't fall to my death. It's an impossibly long climb, or at least it feels like it. After what feels like forever, we end up on the roof of the building. My leg and upper body are on fire, and once i'm laying on the roof, they give out. Looking over the edge, I see already several walkers are gathered at the bottom of the ladder.

"We need to get back to the others!" Ashley says frantically. "What're we gonna do?"

"Calm down, don't give yourself an attack." Sometimes I swear she forgets she has asthma.

"Connor is out there! We have to go back for him!" They've hardly been separated, even before the dead stopped staying dead.

Daryl looks over the skyline, muttering curses. "I can't see any of them. Just walkers all 'round. We don't have no food, no water..." I reach inside the pocket of my hoodie. I sigh in relief when my hand wraps around the handle of my pistol. Inside my pants pocket, I can feel the ever depleting box of ammo press against my leg. Daryl had just his crossbow and his hunting knife.

"Can you see the hospital from here?" I ask once my breathing slows.

"Yeah. The walkers have cleared away from it...we could get there if we act fast...but why? Those people, they-they killed Beth."

"I know, but what other choice do we have? Would they resist us?" To tell the truth, the absolute last place I want to be is at that damn hospital. Beth and Elijah were held there for days on end, what if the same happened to us? We wouldn't have anybody to save us.

Daryl gulps. "No...I killed the woman in charge. They didn't like her. Wanted her out to begin with."

"Then we go there. They might have some handheld radios? We could contact the others. Get a car maybe." I say, resting on my elbows. I realize i've lost my crutches. Damn it.

"You can't walk." He says plainly. Like I have to be reminded of that again.

"We could wait until it's dark out." Ashley says, dragging the sharp side of her axe across the cement of the roof.

"Yeah, I guess we have to. Maybe they'll clear out by then."

"Couldn't you stay here, Alex? If you really can't walk, you could get hurt down there." Ashley's voice is full of concern.

"No, I have to go with. Connor's out there, and I need to find him." This has been the first time that i've been separated from either Ashley or Connor virtually since this whole thing began, and it's eating away at me. I don't know where he is or who he's with...

"We'll need a car." I say. "If we get caught in a crowd down there, I'd just slow you down." Daryl peeks over the far edge of the building, staring down into the street where we just were.

"That old red truck is still there. Front is pretty busted up, but we could get it to start. Lots of walkers around there though."

"Then we wait." Ashley says, sitting down next to me.


	19. Chapter 19: North Pt 1

_Sooo...the last three chapters of Part 2 (Including this chapter!) will each be told from a solo POV  
>~TheChuckles<em>

_CAROLINE'S POV _

"I've can't see the firetruck anymore!" Noah says, panic apparent in his voice.

"What?! Where'd they go?" Glenn asks, swerving around walkers over and over again. He checks the rearview mirror.

"I don't know. We gotta go back-"

"We _can't_! Rick said go north, so that's what we're gonna do. The church is that way, that's where he wants us to regroup." A rather large group of walkers at the next intersection force us to turn left. The street is filled with rusted cars, making it impossible to drive through. Glenn tries to back up, but he runs into the pack of walkers. The car topples a couple of them, but eventually we get stuck. Glenn drives forward, making a U-turn around the walkers, and we zip through the intersection again, going right this time.

"Glenn, do you even know which way we're going?" I ask.

"It doesn't matter. We just have to clear these walkers." He says in a frustrated tone. It seems like Glenn and I are the only ones not stuck in a daze.

Maggie and Tyreese remain silent, both with their heads in their hands. _Jesus, we lost Beth, Bob and Sasha within minutes of each other...and now the group is left in shambles_. For all I know, everybody else but us could be dead by this point. And I was starting to think that we could all survive together...

We're cut off by another large group of walkers a couple blocks later, forcing us to double back. But the walkers are getting too thick behind us as well. We have nowhere to go.

"We gotta go on foot!" I tell Glenn.

"Dammit, I know! Everybody out, head for that building with the smashed doors." We all pile out of the car, barely avoiding walkers as we run into what looks like a department store. The storefront, which consisted to two sets of glass doors, is completely destroyed. Racks of clothing lay strewn across the floor. Glenn runs for the back, leading us to a flight of stairs._ How could he have found them so quickly? _

We race up the stairs, over withered corpses and dried blood stains until we reach the top. A chain with a broken padlock keeps the door closed, but Glenn powers through it. I grab the chain. Once we're all through, I wrap one end around the door handle. The other end is wrapped around a random handle sticking out of the brick wall. There, that should hold off the walkers for a little while at least.

"Glenn, do you know this place or something?" I ask, turning around to see a set of complete strangers aiming guns at us.

There's two of them. The leader, or at least what looks like the leader, is a tall black man in worn out jeans and a faded t-shirt. His bald head looks sunburnt. He's aiming a pistol at Glenn's head. Glenn has his pistol out too, aiming it at the black guy's chest. A short hispanic woman holds a SMG like mine at Maggie. Maggie just looks at her with her head tilted, a blank expression written on her face. The hispanic woman looks mean, wearing a plain white tanktop and jean shorts. She has a red bandana wrapped around her hair, but a few curly black locks spill out.

"Drop your weapons." Tyreese growls, holding his automatic rifle up high.

"Drop yours. We mean no harm." The black man says in a calm and collected voice. He slowly puts his pistol back in its holster, holding his hands up. He nods at the hispanic woman, and she drops her SMG on the ground. Glenn puts his gun away, followed by Tyreese and Noah.

"What's going on down there? We heard gunfire, and then all those dead freaks are swarming everywhere." The hispanic woman asks Maggie, who simply sits down and starts crying.

"We got caught in a crowd." Glenn answers plainly.

"If I may ask, what the hell were you doing in the city? It's a little late to be looking for a refugee camp." The black man says.

"We were rescuing some of our people. They were being held at a hospital by some police officers. We got split up from the rest of our group just now. Some of us didn't make it..." Glenn says.

"I'm sorry for your losses. I'm Jordan. She's Sierra." The black man, Jordan says.

"I'm Glenn. That's my wife Maggie. Caroline, Tyreese, Noah." Glenn points to each of us as he says our names.

"Nice to meet you, Glenn. Do you mind if we tag along with you and your people? We've been by ourselves for a while now. Gets kinda lonely." Sierra asks.

"I have to ask you a couple questions first."

"Of course."

"How many walkers have you killed?" Glenn asks.

"Walkers? Oh, yeah, those dead things. Uhh...too many to count." Sierra replies.

"How many people have you killed?"

"Two." Jordan replies.

"None." Sierra says.

"Why?"

"Because they murdered my family." Jordan says, a hint of pain in his voice.

We spend the rest of the day on lookout for the firetruck or Abraham's minivan. We don't see either, although we hear a flurry of gunshots at dusk. Could be Rick's group, could be Abraham's. Or maybe it was just a couple random strangers, there's no way to find out. Glenn spends his time comforting Maggie on the far side of the rooftop. Tyreese sits by himself in quiet on the other side.

A couple walkers push on the door occasionally, but it's nothing to worry about. We don't bother to post a watch. In the morning, we descend to the bottom floor to find the street completely clear. Jordan and Glenn find us a RV a couple blocks away, while the rest of us gather up whatever we can from the department store. Besides clothes and a couple tools here and there, we don't find much. For a while, we work our way through the city undisturbed. But, the RV being loud by nature, the dead are drawn to us eventually.

Our progress is slowed to a halt when the walkers get too thick to drive through. Jordan turns the RV off, and we all climb to the roof to assess the situation. We're near the outskirts of the city by now, but at least 50 walkers surround us.

"We have to clear them ourselves." Jordan says, grabbing a wicked looking knife from his belt. The handle is sleek black, the blade silver with a deadly curve near the top. Sierra jumps back down into the RV and returns a moment later with a section of L shaped pipe in her hands. Tyreese has his hammer, Maggie has her knife, and Glenn has a machete.

"You two stay up here. If things get hairy down there, start firing." Glenn says. Everybody but Noah and I climbs back down into the RV. The door is kicked open a moment later, and I watch as they all fan out. Tyreese swings with his hammer like a man possesed, beating the walkers he gets to a pulp. Jordan and Sierra work as a team, back to back. They kill the walkers effectively and swiftly, moving from one to the next as fast as possible.

Maggie takes on a section of walkers all by herself, stabbing and slashing at their faces with blinding speed. Black walker blood flies all over the place, staining Maggie's face and her blue sweatshirt. Glenn only takes out a couple before all of the walkers are dead. Maggie screams in rage, going back down and stabbing the already dead walkers even more. Glenn goes to stop her, but Tyreese places a hand on his shoulder.

"Let her get it out, man." He says calmly.

Once Maggie finishes ravishing the corpses, they all pile back into the RV and we're on the move again. We reach the outer limits of the city within the hour. A couple hours later, we come up upon the church. The doors are demolished, the walkers having finally gotten through. Their dead bodies litter the outside of the church.

"Looks like somebody came through here. Your other people maybe?" Jordan asks, walking into the church.

"Could've been them." I say, following him inside. More dead walkers litter the inside of the church. Must be at least twenty in here.

"Most of our stuff is gone." Glenn comments, emerging from one of the backrooms. "Somebody took out those walkers."

"Do you think it was Rick and the others?" Noah asks.

"No, probably not. They would've waited here for us. No, some other people came through here, took our stuff, and ran off."

"Well, won't they show up sooner or later? Rick did say go north." Tyreese says.

"Maybe they were already here, saw this mess, and left." Sierra comments.

"Well, either way, we can't stay here. We hardly have any supplies, no food or water. We need to move."

"Where?"

"North, I guess."

"North where?" Sierra asks. "I get that you want to find your friends, but for all we know they could be still stuck in Atlanta. We have to move on."

"They're not just friends. Those people are my _family_, and i'm not gonna give up on them after a two minute conversation." Glenn strikes back.

"Can't we stay here for a couple days?" I ask. Glenn and Sierra both look at me weirdly.

"What? There has to be something we can use in there. We can park the RV in front of the doors, post a watch. I don't want to abandon everybody."

Maggie scuffs. "_You_ don't want to abandon everybody? Are you kidding me? You've been with us for what, four days? I've been with Rick, Carl, Daryl and the rest for nearly two years, honey. Out of my entire family, i'm the last one standing. You aren't attached to them."

"Don't spit venom at me. I had lost everything by the time the Termites had me. This group is the first thing in a long time I've grown attached to!"

"You don't know what i'm going through!" Maggie yells.

"Yes, I do!" I don't mean for everything to come out. It just does. "I watched my husband get torn apart by those dead freaks, eaten like he was some fucking snack! My son was tortured and killed by horrible, horrible people, and I was forced to watch! Everybody i've ever known has died in the most fucking gruesome way imaginable, and for the first time in forever I'd like to believe that you people won't die on me!" All of my demons resurface, although I thought I buried them deep inside a long, long time ago.

A lone tear streaks down my face. I turn away from the group, storming out of the church. I shouldn't have said any of that. They know too much now. At least I didn't tell them what I did to the people that wronged me. I still can't believe some of the things I did myself.

We fortify the church that night, parking the RV in front of the gap where the doors once were. Whoever raided the church didn't take any of the god awful orange candles, so at least we don't have to sit in complete darkness when the sun sets. Nobody tries to talk to me, and I don't try to talk to any of them.

Jordan and Glenn go hunting, but return with nothing. Noah finds a couple left over cans, dividing them up between the seven of us. Most of them are canned vegetables, which I absolutely hate. Hunger wins out in the end, though. Jordan and Sierra sit together, as do Glenn and Maggie, but everybody remains silent. I'm not approached to go on watch at all that night, but still I don't sleep. I'm haunted by the ghosts of my past.

The next morning when the first sunlight starts to shine through the high set windows, I blow out the creepy orange candles. It's surprisingly cold outside, I realize when I move the RV. Rummaging through what's left inside the church, I find a puffy white coat that makes me feel like a marsh mellow. Oh well, at least it's warm.

Jordan awakes with a small scream, slashing his knife at some invisible enemy in the air. He looks around, seeing if anybody saw his outburst. Our eyes meet for a second, but I just shrug and walk away. We all have our demons. Everybody else wakes up within the hour. Like last night, it's complete silence. We don't eat breakfast, since there's nothing to eat.

"What are we doing today?" Jordan asks once everybody has had some time to shake the last remnants of sleep away.

"We can't stay here. We don't have any food." Sierra interjects.

Glenn rubs his eyes. "We have to move on." He sighs deeply before continuing. "The rest of us, they're strong. Wherever they are, they'll make it. I hate to say this, but we have to assume we'll never see them again."

"What?" Maggie speaks for the first time since our argument yesterday.

"Maggie, please-"

"Do you even know what you're saying? This is Rick we're talking about. Daryl, Carol, Michonne, Carl, family. We can't find them, so we give up? When have we ever done that before?"

"Do you think I want this?" Glenn raises his voice. "I love these people as much as you do, but we have to find more supplies."

"Supplies over family now, is it?" Maggie sounds heartbroken. She storms off, out of the church. The RV door slams shut a couple seconds after Maggie disappears from view. Tyreese nods grimly at Glenn, and follows Maggie into the RV. Jordan and Sierra pick up their bags and follow him. Noah and I follow them. Glenn comes into the RV last, taking the driver's seat. Maggie is as far away from Glenn as she can get, so I sit in the passengers seat in her place.

"Where are we going?" I ask, pulling out a large foldable map.

"Whichever roads lead north, I guess."


	20. Chapter 20: North Pt 2

_The Kat/Isaac backstory series is coming soon :) _

_~TheChuckles_

_KAT'S POV _

"Abraham, where the _hell_ are we going?" Michonne asks after about 10 minutes of random swerving all over the streets of Atlanta.

"Out of this damn hell hole, that's where." He replies, keeping his eyes on the road. Michonne rolls her eyes and looks out her window. She's sitting in the passenger's seat. Gabriel and Rosita sit in the far back on the bench seat. Tara and I sit in the two seats ahead of them. Connor sits on the floor curled up in a ball, knees tucked under his chin. Poor guy.

"We need to get back to the church. We got supplies there." Tara says, watching the decayed city as we zip through the streets.

"We'll get there. Rick won't abandon us." Michonne replies sternly.

It's a miracle that we haven't run into any large clumps of walkers yet. Otherwise, we'd be in some serious trouble. Beside my hatchet and bow and arrows, Michonne's katana and Connor's axe, all we have are guns. Guns attract noise. We'd be basically ringing the dinner bell to any walkers in the area.

As if hearing my thoughts, a rather large pack of walkers block the street up ahead. Abraham curses one of his weird military curses and slams the breaks. Everybody lurches forward. Connor smacks his head on the seat. Gabriel actually falls in the space between Tara and I.

"We can't go around them." I point out.

"There's a couple behind us." Rosita says.

Abraham rubs the bridge of his nose. "Okay, everybody grab your shit. We're on foot from here. We haul ass for that building over there." He points towards a rather large office building to our left. "Nobody better dare fire a damn shot. Let's go!"

I slide open the door, hatchet in hand. The revolving doors to the building are completely smashed, a gaping hole in their place. I can hear a couple moans from inside. Everybody else piles out of the minivan except for Connor, I realize. He's still curled up on the floor, staring at the faded green carpet inside.

"We're going in!" Abraham says.

"Wait!"

"What?" He sounds aggravated. I nod my head to the van. Abraham huffs angrily.

"Get him. We'll push inside." And with that, the rest of the group advances into the building. All but Father Gabriel, I realize once he's standing off to my side.

"_What_?" I snap.

"Uh...I think you should have this. I mean, I held onto it and, well, take it." He says quietly, holding out a machete. No, hold the phone. That's...no, it can't be. It is. I wrap my free hand around the hilt of Isaac's machete slowly, almost in disbelief. All the pain of his death and all the joy of the two years we spent together come flooding back. All the good, all the bad. All the fights and all the makeups. All the times we had to save each other and all the time that we waited together for somebody to save us. Every time our group got smaller and smaller until it was just the three of us. Dad, Isaac, and myself. The three musketeers. The last ones standing. And here I was thinking I'd have nothing left of him but memories. No, I have something now..._woah_...it's just a little much to take in.

"Thank you." I whisper hoarsely. Gabriel nods, smiling slightly, "It's what I do." I'm brought back to the current situation when the disgusting moans of the dead assault my ears. Damn it. A few stray walkers have gotten close enough to have become a threat. The larger pack is still a ways down the street.

"Get Connor, can you? I'll deal with them." Gabriel nods again. With Isaac's machete in one hand and my hatchet in the other, I begin to work my way through the walkers. A wild sense of bloodlust takes over. They fall left and right, heads severed from bodies. I slice heads off with the machete and drive the hatchet deep into the skulls. Everything becomes a blur as I find myself surrounded with the dead. I start to spin, and it turns out to be the best idea i've had in a long time. Anything that comes close to me gets its face shredded. All I can hear is a sweet ringing in my ears, accompanied with the sounds of the dead dying.

When all the walkers are dead, I realize that i've wandered about 30 feet away from the minivan to seek out more walkers. Gabriel and Connor stand near the building, motioning me to come inside. The ringing in my ears dies down. As I run towards them, I nearly slip in walker blood. Looking down, I see i'm splattered in the nasty red and black goo. _Ugh_.

The three of us enter the building together, hearing nothing but scary silence. We're in the ruins of what once was a lobby, the red carpet stained with even darker red stains. It's dark as night once we get farther inside, when the entrance appears to just be a shining beam of a big flashlight.

"Abraham? Michonne? Tara?" I call out, my voice echoing in the eery silence. A small hand grabs onto my own, shaking and cold. I don't have to know that it belongs to Connor. Poor boy. Separated from his siblings, stuck with virtual strangers except me, 12 years old and completely inexperienced at killing walkers. That'll have to change.

"Kat?" I hear Tara call out. What a relief.

"Tara! Where are you?" A flashing light answers my questions. Tara wonders up to us, turning the flashlight towards the ground.

"We've set up on the second floor. C'mon." She leads the way up a small flight of stairs. We emerge from the dark stairwell into a very well lit office workplace. Windows bring in copious amounts of sunlight. Cubicles remain in neat, orderly rows, but Abraham is already at work moving several out of the way, pushing them with brute force. Michonne and I help him, and within minutes we have a space big enough for all of us to sit. Rosita works on a fire while Michonne and Abraham pile random desks and other furniture in front of the stairwell.

"We don't have any food to cook." Gabriel says to Rosita.

"Fire's still fire. Warmth, light, a sense of security." She crumples up several pieces of paper, making a wick out of them. She ignites the top with a lighter, and lets it drop into the bundle of pencils and wood scraps. The fire catches, and within seconds we have fire.

"Boom. Fire." Rosita smiles. "Only if we had food..."

"Kat and I can search a couple floors up." Tara suggests.

"Okay." Rosita says simply, sitting back against a turned over cubical wall. Silently, Tara and I walk towards the opposite side of the large room, which leads into a small hallway. It's darker here, so Tara switches on her flashlight. The hallway diverts into four rooms, two on each side. It ends at an elevator, but I spot another door with stairs labeled on it.

We search the rooms first, finding nothing but boring office papers and office chairs that roll around. The third floor is almost identical to the second, with the exception of a couple walkers that surprise us in the cubicles. I was hoping to find a pantry or something, but we had no such luck.

"Could there be anything in the desks? Snacks and stuff?" Tara asks me, resting on top of one of the desks.

"Let's find out, I guess." I search through the desk, shuffling through papers and staples and highlighters. I pull out all the drawers, emptying their contents onto the floor. Tara hops down and helps me search through the heap of office supplies. We find two peanut butter flavored granola bars.

"We've hit the jackpot." I say sarcastically.

The next half hour is spent trashing the hell out of the floor, looking for snacks. By the time we're done, we have a backpack full of granola bars, stale chips, chocolate, and a handful of fruit. Compared to the breakfast we had yesterday at Sweet Brown's, this is a huge downgrade. But honestly, food is food.

After we return, Abraham blocks the door to the stairs with a couple desks, just in case. We pass out snack food to everybody, sitting around the fire. The only sound is that of wrappers being ripped open and the crunch of stale chips. Abraham insists on having a watch, even though the only way somebody could get in here is through the windows. Rosita and Michonne agree to take first watch. The rest of us spread out. Tara and I drag an old couch and a recliner chair from the managers office into a corner. I take the couch, sighing deeply as I sink into the warm leather.

I'm gentle push wakes me up. I open one eye to see Tara nudging at me with her foot, still in the chair. "Your watch." She says sleepily. Groaning, I reluctantly pull myself away from the soft heaven of the couch and assume my position sitting by the fire. Abraham and Rosita opted to sleep in one of the other rooms, leaving just five of us in the main room. Gabriel lays by himself a couple feet away from the fire. Michonne has put a couple of the desks together and piled some of the left over clothes on top as a makeshift bed.

_Hmm..maybe there are still some more clothes around here._ I need to change out of my current clothes, because the walker blood has dried, leaving my clothes crusty and smelling bad. Using a flashlight, I search the ground for any clothes that would fit me, zig zagging around the turned over desks and the cubical walls. Finally, I find a long sleeve blue shirt with a pattern of black flowers streaking down one side. A few minutes later, in the employee storage area, I find a pair of tan slacks that fit just perfectly.

Just as i'm changing my shirt, I'm startled by a soft voice.

"What're you doing?" I jump, turning around to see Connor watching me from the doorframe. Only wearing a bra, I quickly slip the shirt on. _Talk about awkward_.

"Just finding some new clothes." I reply dryly, holding up my old, ruined clothes. Connor nods. When I shine my flashlight on him, I notice that the skin around his eyes is red and puffy.

"Hey, are you alright?" I ask, stepping closer to him.

"Define 'okay'." He sounds sad.

"I don't know, how are you feeling?"

"Absolutely horrible." He rubs his eyes.

"We'll find everybody, you know that right? Tomorrow we'll get back to the church, and everything will be fine." As soon as I see his scowl, I know I made a mistake by saying that.

"No, it won't be alright. Everybody else could already be dead! Maybe we're the only ones left!" Connor rubs his eyes again, but this time I suspect it's to wipe away tears.

"Hey, you don't know that." I make my voice sound as soothing as possible. With a sore throat, that's hard to do, but I pull it off anyways. "Your brother is strong. No matter where he is or who he's with, he'll make it. And I think you know that too." Talking about Alex makes me feel weird. I guess I still blame him for Dad and Isaac's deaths, but at the same time, I know it's stupid to do that.

"Alex has a bad ankle though, and Ashley has asthma. She can't run, and she can't kill any walkers. What if they're by themselves? Oh my god..." He starts breathing heavy.

"Hey now, don't think like that." He doesn't hear me though. Connor leans on the doorframe, clutching it with white knuckles. Tears leave clean streaks on his grime covered face. Without thinking, I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around him. I'm taller than him, his head only reaches up to my neck, and it feels totally wrong holding a teenage boy's head to my chest, but I don't think Connor cares anyways. He continues to sob, and I hold him close until he lets it all out. _Trust me, I know how it feels_, I think with regret, remembering my breakdown yesterday. Soon enough, he wares himself out and falls asleep. Gently, I lay him down on the floor and cover him with a random blanket I find on the floor.

The next day is entirely spent trying to get out of the city. We were already near the edge of the city anyways, but we have to move by foot and dodge any large groups of walkers. By sunset, we reach the interstate where we entered the city from. As we search for a vehicle, I hope to see a big firetruck driving towards us, but that proves to be a fantasy. We end up grabbing two cars, a silver Chevy truck and a beat up white van. We loot the cars for whatever we can scavenge. Parts, clothes, food, tools, everything. We end up filling half of the white van with supplies.

We carry on into the night, reaching the church when the moon is high in the sky. A big white RV blocks the doors completely. Since the church's windows are so high, we can't peek in and see who's there. Could be our people, but most likely, it could be some hostile people.

"Somebody else has made this theirs." Abraham comments solemnly.

"I think you're right." Michonne says, eyeing the RV. "Big vehicles aren't exactly Rick's style."

"Where do we go now? We don't have a home, and we don't know where the hell everybody else is." Rosita says, voicing everybody's thoughts.

"Rick said north, but he didn't specify where..."

"What if he meant Washington?" Tara asks. Abraham stiffens up at the mention of the city. I can't help but remember that argument two days ago. Bessy the Shotgun suddenly feels heavy in my backpack.

"What the hell would he be doing going there?" Abraham asks bitterly.

"Where else would they go? He must know it's a bust, but still, that's the one place we all know of. And it's north of here. It's worth a shot." Rosita says.

"Michonne?" Abe asks.

"It could work."

"Kat?" I'm surprised he asks me for advice.

"Might as well. No harm, no foul, I guess."

"Okay, then the mission to Washington is back on." We all get back into our vehicles, and pull away from the church with a renewed goal: Get to Washington D.C.


	21. Chapter 21: North Pt 3

_Final chapter of Part 2! I'm happy to say that there will definitely be a Part 3, so expect that sometime to start within the next two weeks. Leave reviews or message me ideas or suggestions ya'll have, and I just might include them in Part 3, which I have decided to name Just A Little Luck. Stay classy. ~TheChuckles_

_ALEX'S POV_

Everything was going smooth until we got to the hospital.

We left the building around dusk when most of the walkers had cleared out. We managed to get the red truck started, once all the walkers were done eating Beth's corpse and had moved on. The truck barely ran, but we managed to limp to the hospital relatively quickly. However, a few stray walkers decided to show up when we were walking through the parking lot, where we are now.

"God damn!" Daryl yells, killing one of the walkers with a well placed jab with his hunting knife. I use a pipe as a impromptu crutch, my pistol held securely in my other hand. Ashley walks up to one of the dead scumbags and promptly spits his skull down the middle with her axe. _Holy crap, did that just happen?_

"Back to the truck!" Daryl commands, helping me hop into the truck bed. I can't help but think of how Beth's body was in here less than an hour ago. Ashley climbs up by herself, swinging her axe wildly at a walker closing in on her. She gets part of its face, but most of her swing hits the driver's side window. Once we're all safely on the truck, I take note of our situation.

We're probably twenty or so feet away from the front doors to the hospital, but they're locked from the inside. Daryl and Ashley perhaps could make the run without trouble, but not with me in tow.

"We need to get their attention." Ashley notes, pointing towards the windows a couple levels up. I can make out somebody walking by without even taking note of us. They probably can't hear us from here.

"Hey you, _fuckers_!" Daryl screams, but nobody seems to notice.

I throw my pipe-crutch down, leaning on the cab. I aim my pistol at the window using both hands, careful to wait just until somebody passes to fire. My shot shatters the glass, but doesn't kill the officer that was walking by. They peer out the window a split second later, gun drawn and ready for battle.

"Wanna help here, Officer Shepard?" Daryl yells up to the officer, apparently named Shepard.

"What are you people doing back here?" She asks.

"Asking for help!" I yell.

It takes her a long moment, but finally she nods. "I'll be right down! Have your weapons down when I get there, or I leave you to the roamers." She disappears from view. I put my pistol inside the pocket of my Badgers hoodie. I really need to get one of those damn gun holsters, for real. Daryl sheaths his hunting knife, but keeps his crossbow slung around his back. Ashley sets her axe on top of the cab.

I see movement behind the glass doors. Officer Shepard comes out, along with another mean looking officer. Armed with nightsticks, they charge the walkers surrounding us. Being cops and all, they're pretty skilled. The walkers fall quickly. Daryl audibly groans.

"Great to see you, Officer Licari." I guess he's talking to the mean looking officer. He's huge, at least 6 feet tall with a bald head and really tan skin. His menacing glare doesn't make him look anymore friendly. Thick bandages are wrapped around one of his hands.

"Here to make another trade? Who we got from your group _this_ time?" Licari sneers.

"Man, just drop it. You help people here, right? Then help us." Daryl says plainly.

"Where's the rest of your group? I don't recognize these two." Shepard asks, nodding to Ashley and I.

"They're friends. We got caught in a huge crowd of walkers, and we need a place to crash for the night and a car."

"And can you please look at my brother's ankle? It's been bothering him for days now." Ashley puts in, using her sweet charming voice and innocent appearance to her advantage. Smart.

Officer Shepard mulls Daryl's words over for what seems like hours. Finally, she reaches a conclusion.

"If you surrender your weapons, I'll allow you to stay for one night. We'll have Dr. Edwards patch all of you up, and send you on your way tomorrow morning. We'll even help you hijack a car. Sound fair?"

"_Linda_-" Licari starts, but Officer Shepard, or Linda, silences him with a stern look.

"Yeah, I guess so." Daryl says. "But, if you try and pull the same shit you pulled with Beth, i'll kill every last one of you."

"Unless we kill you first." Licari comments.

"Dammit Licari, that's _enough_!" Linda snaps. "Fine. Hand over your weapons." I hand over my pistol along with my constantly depleting box of ammo. Ashley hands Linda her axe, while Daryl takes great care in handing his crossbow and knife to Licari.

"Let's roll." Linda helps me down to the ground, letting me sling one arm around her shoulder. Licari and Daryl walk close together, silent but tense. Ashley walks in the middle. We enter the hospital and ascend the stairs slowly. Once we reach the top, Linda places me in a wheelchair.

"I'll show you to your rooms." She says, dismissing Officer Licari. He storms down the hallway and out of view. We travel down the main hallway before breaking off onto one of the smaller ones. Linda pushes open a door on her left.

"You two can stay here, unless you want separate rooms."

"It'll do." Daryl says, leading my sister inside. "Where you taking him?"

"I'm gonna have Dr. Edwards look at him. See what he can do." Daryl nods.

"Thank you." He says, looking Officer Linda in the eyes. I can tell he really means it by the way his voice gets all serious.

"Well, it's just a little something I can do to show we mean no harm towards your group. Dawn was the one who always wanted to bring people in. I don't know why." Wordlessly, Daryl closes the door, not rudely, but not in a kind matter either.

Linda pushes me down to Dr. Edwards' office and he looks at my ankle. He looks like the type of person that lives in their mom's basement, but they say he's a **doctor**. I explain to him the whole Terminus thing, and afterwards I tune out as he babbles medical terminology. He removes my shoe and rolls up my pant leg to reveal my red and swollen ankle. He says it'll heal, but he's still going to put a cast on it.

Dr. Edwards discovers that he doesn't have any material for a cast, and instead he fits me with one of those bulky medical boots. The inside is well padded, much more comfortable than my shoe. Edwards tells me that I can stand on my own with the boot on, but I don't believe him at first. With his help, I stand on my own two feet, completely unassisted for the time since before Terminus. I can't help but smiling.

"Thank you." I say to him, limping freely about the room on my own. It might have only been 4 or 5 days since I got shot, but it seems like I haven't had use of my leg in ages. Dr. Edwards sheepishly nods and hands me my shoe. "You'll want to wear that for a few weeks, so you can get used to walking again."

"You don't know how much this means to me. Thank you." I say again, shaking his hand. I exit the room by myself. I walk down the hallway, by myself. When I get to the room where Daryl and Ashley are staying, they look at me like i'm an alien. The smile on my face is threatening to split my skull in half, but it just feels so good.

The rest of the day we spend in our room, looking out the **window** or trading miniscule small talk. One of the orderlies brings us dinner, which consists of 3 bowls of soup with bread and water.

"Thanks." Daryl says with a half smile. The woman smiles back. She's halfway out the door when I see her hesitate. My mind immediately goes to all the bad things that could come out of this situation, but she just turns around to face Daryl again.

"Hey, um...is that deal still on the table? Like, I mean, can I go with you guys?" She mumbles, playing with the hem of her hospital shirt. I study her in more detail than before. She looks to be in her 30's, but the curly brown locks covering her face could be hiding her age.

"I guess, but I need to ask you a few questions first. Close that door." Daryl says. The woman complies, looking down the hallway before quietly shutting and locking the door.

"How many walkers have you killed?"

The next day, Linda and an Officer Lambson give us the keys to one of the cop cars, along with supplies sufficient for the four of us for at least a week. Daryl and Joan, the woman from yesterday sit in the front, while Ashley and I sit in the back. Linda tells us that if we're welcome anytime. Daryl thanks her again and we take off.

Most of the walkers have cleared out of the city, making it an easy drive through. We come to an abrupt stop, however, when we see a familiar red firetruck barreling down the street towards us.

"Oh my god that's them!" I yell, breaking the silence. Daryl slams on the brakes. The firetruck comes to a stop. The hinges on the door are rusty, but I finally manage to get it open. As soon as I fully make it out of the car, i'm tackled to the ground in a hug by somebody I can't see. It doesn't matter though, because I know it's a friend.

"Don't you ever leave me again you son of a bitch." Elijah sobs, turning me over so we're face to face. Tears are in his eyes, but he's smiling. Relief floods into my veins like a drug, and suddenly i'm overjoyed. Finally, after all the let downs and disappointments and deaths, something good happens. About damn time. I don't care if it's just by dumb luck or some miracle of god. Who needs luck anyways?

Elijah helps me up, letting me use him as a crutch. _He hasn't noticed_, I think slyly. Without warning, I push him away, standing on my own. At first, he rushes over to catch me, but I don't fall. His reaction leaves me in tears.

"I'm glad for your concern-" I start, laughing in between words.

"Shut up." He says, faking a pouty face. Behind him, Daryl, Carol, Rick and Michonne are all in a group hug. I can hear somebody crying. Eugene the liar is standing off to the side, looking sad and pathetic, but I don't let it affect my mood.

Carl and Ashley wander over to us. Hugs are exchanged. Everybody in the group joins together in a small clump, awaiting Rick's words. I **scan** the small crowd, but I don't see Connor or Kat. Judith is in Rick's arms, content for once. Rick dawns a new brown shirt, adding to the dark color palette he has going with his black hair and grey beard.

"It looks like we're all that's left." As soon as Rick finishes that sentence I disagree with him.

"The others have to be out there. Kat and Abraham, Michonne, Tara, my brother. They're alive somewhere." I say. Rick nods in my direction.

"They could be. Probably are. It really is a miracle that we've found each other so quickly, but this is no time for celebration. We're still separated from the rest of us. We know that Abraham, Michonne, Kat, Tara, Rosita, Father Gabriel and Alex's brother took off in a minivan. Glenn, Maggie, Tyreese, Noah and Caroline left in a blue Lincoln. Three of us are dead, and we haven't had any time to mourn. We ran into a horde just last hour, and it's heading this way. It's bigger than the one we encountered yesterday. We have no choice but to leave the city from the south, and work our way north towards the church."

"Are you sure they'll be there? It could take us days to get there. We might be too late." Daryl asks.

Rick replies, "It's a chance we have to take. I don't know if anybody will be there, but we have to try. It's all we have to go on."

"What if they're going for D.C?" Carol asks Rick.

"Carol, we've been over this-"

"No, Rick, we haven't. You said go north towards the church, but do you think they really got all of that? If anybody is actually heading north, there's a possibility they'll make for Washington. I know there's not a cure there," Almost everybody glances at Eugene. "but it does make sense. If there's any small trace of society left, it has to be there. Rick, it just has to be."

"We should vote." Joan interjects.

"What?" Rick asks, "Do I know you?"

"She's with us." Daryl says. "She wanted out of the hospital. Her name's Joan."

"Well, Joan, what do you propose we vote on?"

Joan stutters. "I don't know...where are we going? This church of yours, or to Washington, or somewhere else.

"What do you think? Where should we go?" Rick's sudden hostility towards Joan is uncalled for, in my opinion. I remain silent, though.

"I don't know...somewhere..." The beginnings of a deep blush appear on Joan's face.

"Ah, I see." Rick comments.

"She has a point." I speak up. "We should vote on where we go next. Do we try for the church, or do we cut our losses and head for D.C? Or do we search for the rest of us?" By us, I really mean Connor. Yes, everybody else in the group is important to me, but I freaking need to find my goddamn brother before he gets himself killed out here.

"Let's do that then. All in favor of going back to the church raise your hands." Rick alone raises his hand. "All in favor of trying for D.C raise your hands." Carol and Eugene are the only ones whose hands raise.

"Well, it's settled. We look for everybody else. We'll start looking near the church and around the Terminus compound, in case anybody is holing up there. After that, we head north. Agreed?"

Everybody mumbles an agreement, and we diverge into the two vehicles available to us. Daryl, Carol, Elijah, Ashley and myself take the police cruiser, while Rick, Carl, Judith, Joan and Eugene take the firetruck. We have a tough road in front of us, i'll admit. For the millionth time it seems, we're separated and scattered all over the place. We've lost so many, but we've gained so many more allies. I don't know where my brother is, and I don't even know where to begin looking, but oddly enough, I have a lurking sense of optimism.

We'll find them, I think to myself as we leave Atlanta behind. I think of it as a giant, deadly game of hide and go seek. We've dealt with so much worse anyways. Governors, thugs, fires, cannibals, liars, and egomaniacs. What's next?

We don't need luck, the people in our way do.


End file.
